


Same Time Next Year

by lexwing



Series: Second Life [1]
Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens (2015)
Genre: F/M, Gen, Prequel, filling in the blank, lost Kenobi fic, not Bloodlines compliant, where did Rey come from?
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-01-03
Updated: 2016-12-18
Packaged: 2018-05-11 09:35:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 29,376
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5622496
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lexwing/pseuds/lexwing
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Luke Skywalker did know Rey’s mother.  But not in the way everyone assumed.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Twenty years ago pt.1

**Author's Note:**

> Author’s note: I’m actually hoping it turns out Rey isn’t related to any of the canon Force-strong families. But my second-favorite theory is that she’s a lost Kenobi. This started as a drabble about how that might have happened; it might continue if there’s enough interest. Spoilers for Episode 7, of course. I will also be stealing bits and pieces from the Legends-verse, but since this is my first Star Wars fic any errors are entirely my own.

_A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away…_

   The girl was hungry.

   Luke Skywalker had never been much of a cook.  Any skills he might have possessed had been dulled during fifteen years of exile on this tiny planet.  He was often so deep in meditation that he forgot to eat at all, and when he did bother to cook anything it was usually gruel or thin soup made with the plants that grew wild around his crude shelter.  Nourishing, but not exactly tasty.

   Chewbacca had taken one sniff of the cooking pot and elected to eat from his own supplies in the Falcon.  But the girl didn’t seem to care.  She ate eagerly, sitting cross-legged on the floor next to R2.

   In between bites she told him about who she was, and why she was there.

   She didn’t need to.  The moment she’d landed in the Falcon and started climbing up the hill he knew who she was and what she wanted. 

   When she’d offered him his old lightsaber—which he’d refused to take, not because he wanted to be rude but because he hadn’t handled any kind of weapon in years and wasn’t ready to do so now—he’d been sure.

   Now as she finished her supper she gazed at him steadily. 

   “So,” she began.

   “So,” he echoed. 

_So full of questions.  Questions that needed answers, and answers that are more terrible and wonderful than the questions themselves._

   Then

_Were you ever that young, old man?_

   Luke chuckled slightly.  He knew it was his own voice speaking to him inside his head.  Obi-Wan and Yoda were long gone, their work done, absorbed back into the Force as all living beings were and would be. 

   But sometimes when he talked to himself it was as if he could still hear them.

   “So,” the girl tried again.  “Are you my father?”

_She was blunt.  Blunt was good.  Made it easier for one to know where one stood._

   “No,” Luke told her.  “I’m sorry, but I am not.”

   The news didn’t seem to hurt her.  She still regarded him calmly.

   “Then did you know my family?  What happened to them?  Why they left me?”

   Luke sighed.

   “I can’t tell you everything, young Rey.  But I’ll tell you what I know.”

  

* * *

 

 

_Twenty years earlier…_

   Quartos wasn’t much more than a hunk of rock hanging in space.  Even by the desolate standards of the Outer Rim territories, it was in the middle of nowhere, suspended against the black sky like a sickly orange ball.

   From the shuttle he was flying Luke Skywalker surveyed the surface of the planet, looking for a likely place to land.  He finally spotted a small landing strip on the far side, surrounded by jagged mountains and what looks like a handful of outbuildings.

   There were no communications from the ground as he circled, no directions from any sort of flight control.  Quartos had no real settlements, after all, and visitors were so few and far between no one bothered to officially monitor the comings and goings.

   Nonetheless, Luke was sure he was being closely watched.

   He put the shuttle down on the far edge of the runway.  He shut down the engines and tucked his lightsaber and his other valuable possession—the reason for this journey, really-- inside his black jacket.  He’d abandoned his Jedi robes for this trip.  His civilian clothes felt strange on his back, like a costume.

   Maybe Han was right, he thought to himself as he stepped out onto the landing strip.  Maybe he did need to get away from the Temple more.  But there was always so much work to be done.  Arcane writings to study, meditations to practice, padawans to train…an entire way of life to rebuild from scratch.

   Sometimes just thinking about it exhausted Luke.

   There were a few other small ships around.  Some looked more flight worthy than others.  Most had at least one individual working on them.

   Other ships were in bits and pieces, clearly scavenged or being scavenged for parts.  There were a few dismantled X-wings, and even an old Tie fighter with its panels removed, looking for all the world like it might roll away in a stiff breeze.  But there were also stacks and stacks of shipping crates full, Luke was sure, of brand new ship parts.  Most of the crates bore the logo of the now-defunct Empire, although a few had been crudely scratched out or painted over.

   The real action seemed to be further away from where he stood, where an impressive yacht sat.  It was new and sleek, and would probably take a full crew to fly.  Whoever owned it, Luke was certain, did not fly it him or herself.  No, this was clearly a pleasure vessel.

   A dozen or so workers were busy underneath it. They had the yacht’s engines in pieces on the ground.  Luke knew enough about machines to see that most of the original parts were being swapped out, and to know that the modifications were all designed to make the ship faster, tougher, and more nimble to handle.

   A smuggler’s vessel, he thought to himself, or maybe for a Hutt.  Someone who wanted, and could afford, the very best of the best. 

   Luke saw a Devaronian approaching, and paused to great him.  The Devaronian seemed to be smiling, but then with their wide cheekbones and pointed teeth Devaronians always looked a bit like they were smiling.  The blasters and vibroblades strapped to his hips, however, told a very different story.

   “You must be lost, my friend,” the Devaronian said.  “We are but a humble ship’s graveyard, and have no services here, I’m afraid.”

   Luke didn’t bother pointing out that the millions of credits worth of state-of-the-art materials scattered about suggested this place was anything but a ship’s graveyard.

   “You must be Yavro.  Denai sent me.”

   The Devaronian paused.  “Did he now?”  He rubbed one of the horns on his head.

   Luke waited patiently.  He could see suspicion warring with greed inside the other man.

   Greed won out.  “Any friend of Denai is a friend of mine,” the Devaronian said.  “Welcome to Quartos, Master…?”

   “Skywalker.” 

   Luke had no idea if his name carried any freight in this part of the galaxy or not.  He’d deliberately decided to not travel or to behave as a Jedi.  But he’d seen no reason to leave his name behind him as well.  Most of what he’d done had already faded from popular memory, swamped under day to day concerns and the ongoing struggle between the New Republic and the remnants of the Empire. 

   After all, new heroes were being created every day.  

   “Master Skywalker.”  The name clearly meant nothing to Yavro.  Instead he cast a disparaging glance over his shoulder at the shuttle.  “What sort of modifications might you be looking for, Master Skywalker?  Although I must tell you, there is little even I, the great Yavro, can do for such a vehicle.”

   “I’m actually looking for a person.  When I visited Tantos 5 Denai said he believed you’d hired her.  A ship’s engineer.  Etan Darklighter.”

   Yavro scowled at him.  “I hope you do not think you are here to hire her away, Master Skywalker.  I am paying her good money to oversee this job, and my client…well, shall we just say my client will not accept any delays.”

   “I understand.  I only wish to speak with her.”  Luke produced a stack of credits.  “I’m sure it will not delay your timeline at all.”

   The Devaronian’s expression brightened.  He quickly swept the credits into his own hand.  “In that case, I am happy to be of service.”  He gestured for Luke to follow him to the aft side of the yacht.

   “You are here to give your condolences, perhaps?”  Yavro asked at they walked.  “About her pilot?”

   Luke decided not to give a direct answer.  “Yes, I heard about what happened.  He must have been very brave.”

   “He was certainly very foolish.”

   Luke paused.  “Foolish?”

   The Devaronian shrugged.  “By all accounts he was a gifted pilot.  He should have stuck to smuggling and not gotten involved running Imperial blockades.”

   Luke chose his next words carefully.  “I understand the Rebellion paid him well for his services.”

   “And a lot of good that will do him now, eh?”

   The Jedi chose to remain silent. 

   He had never known Marcus Cass, not even by reputation.  He had never even heard of the man until the day his ship the _Jaina_ and several others had tried to run a blockade to get supplies to a planet an Imperial general was trying to starve into submission.  They’d been successful, but on the way out they’d run into an Imperial starcruiser.  The _Jaina_ had held it off long enough for the other ships to escape.  But captain and crew had been captured and executed.  And, if Luke had to guess, most likely tortured in between.   

       Luke knew thousands had died in the fight to defeat the Empire, thousands whose names he would never know.  Just as no one would have ever learned his name, had the attack on the first Death Star failed.  He could have been like Cass, then, just another pilot dead at the hands of the Empire.

   “She was listed as his next of kin.” Luke said.

   “I suppose she was the closest thing to it he had, yes.” Yavro shrugged.

   Such a tiny thing, Luke thought.  Just one name among others listed in Republic records as survivors of _Jaina_ ’s crew, and read aloud in a Senate session as an object lesson in Imperial brutality.  Just chance that Luke had been there in the gallery that day four months ago to hear it.  Just chance that a mystery that was almost ten years old suddenly seemed to have a solution.

   Of course, Luke Skywalker didn’t believe in chance.

   The air under the yacht was darker and rich with the smell of ozone and carbon.  The workers were dressed in coveralls, with masks and heavy gloves to protect them from sparks and debris.

   Yavro pointed to where two people were bent over the casing for a hyperdrive.  One was welding; the other leaning over his shoulder and directing the weld with a gloved hand.

   Luke was still deciding which his target was when the supervisor stood and pulled down her mask.

   “Not good enough,” she told the welder.  “That seam needs to be perfect to hold the new components.  Take a deep breath, and do it again.”

   “Etan…” her co-worker whined.

   “Again,” she replied tartly.

   Yavro waved and caught her eye, gesturing for her to approach.

   She frowned, but she walked towards them anyway.  She was almost Luke’s height, dressed in coveralls that were at least two sizes too big for her frame.  Auburn hair had been braided and tied to within an inch of its life on top of her head.  Bright blue eyes Luke hadn’t seen in fifteen years gazed out from a rather round face.

   Even if he hadn’t felt it deep inside, resonating like a gentle wave that swirled and dipped deep inside of him, he still would have recognized her anywhere. 

* * *

 

   “Would you like some tea, Master Skywalker?”  Etan Darklighter asked him.  “I’d like some tea.”

   “Thank you, yes.”

   She nodded and placed a small kettle on an even smaller heating element.

   Yavro had given them the use of one of the small outbuildings.  It looked to be mostly storage, but there was a small kitchenette in one corner.

   “So how many credits did you have to pay Yavro to get him to pull me off the job?”  She asked him with a grin.

   “I’m sorry?”

   “Yavro doesn’t believe in breaks.  He’d work us ‘til we dropped if we let him.”

   Luke was still trying to process having found his quarry at last.  He tried to think of something to say.

   “Why do you work for him, then?”

   She shrugged, which made a strand of auburn hair fall over one eye.  She pushed it away impatiently.

   “He pays well.  And I like to keep busy.”

   Luke could feel her sorrow through the Force, still raw and still sharp.

   “I heard about what happened.  I’m very sorry for your loss.”

   The woman shrugged.  “Yeah, well, it’s not like I was his wife or anything.  But he was a good guy.”  She shook tea powder out of a small tin into two mugs.  “So, Yavro said Denai sent you?”

   Luke nodded.  “I met with him a few days ago.  He told me where I would probably find you.”

   “Hmm.”

   “It took some doing.  He’d obviously very fond of you.  And worried about you.”

   “Denai and I go way back,” she explained.  “He’s known me since I was little. Look, I appreciate you coming all this way.  But like I told the last guy the Rebellion sent: I’m not interested.  I’ve already got all the work I can handle, thank you very much.”  She scrubbed absently at a smudge on her cheek with the back of one hand.

   So she had worked for the Rebellion in the past.  The Gungan on Tantos 5 had been right.  Luke mentally filed this information away in case it proved useful in the future.

   “I’m not here about a job.  And,” he couldn’t help himself, “it’s the New Republic now, not the Rebellion.”

   Etan waved a hand in the air dismissively.  “To be quite honest with you, this far out in the Outer Rim it really doesn’t make that much of a difference.”

   Luke nodded slightly. 

   In some ways she was right.  The old Republic had never had a very firm grip on the Outer Rim Territories.  The Empire, in spite of all its military might, hadn’t done much better at establishing political control over the fractious planets on this end of the galaxy.

   He’d seen it every day as a boy on Tatooine.  People had gone about their daily business—legal or otherwise—without much regard for what the Empire needed or wanted from them.  If anyone had actually ruled Tatooine, it had been the Hutts.

   Granted, he didn’t spend anywhere near as much time in the new Galactic Senate as Leia did.  But he was certain he hadn’t yet heard a word about when or if the New Republic would be providing democratic governance for the Rim.

   The kettle whistled and Etan filled the two cups.  She handed one to Luke and sat down on one of the bent stools.  The oversized coveralls bunched and bagged around her midsection.

   “So if you’re not here to try and hire me,” she said after taking a sip of her beverage, “why are you here?  I’m guessing you didn’t come to this rock to talk politics.”

   “No, I didn’t.”  Luke moved a crate of droid parts off another stool and sat down.  “Actually, I’ve been wanted to meet you for a very long time.”

   She shot him a look of skepticism, followed by a frown so like old Ben’s that for a moment he was back on the Falcon, watching the Jedi Master verbally spar with Han.

   “It’s about your father,” Luke added.

   Her frown deepened.  She took another sip of tea.  “That’s…odd.  I don’t have a father.  I mean, of course, I _had_ a father—everyone had a father at some point or another.  But I didn’t know mine."

   “I know you didn’t.”

   “And how can you possibly know that?”

   She was getting agitated now.  He could feel it through the Force, prickling against his skin.

   He’d rehearsed what he might say to her a thousand times over the last few years, but now that he was face to face with her he wasn’t sure where to start.  He decided the direct approach might be best.

   “Because I did know him.” 

   Luke reached into his jacket and withdrew Kenobi’s journal.  In the dusty sunlight inside the shed the leather looked even more battered than usual.  “This was his.”

   Etan eyed the journal as if it was something that might bite her. 

   “He was a good friend to me.”  Luke explained.  “After he…passed, he left this for me to find.”

   “Oh.”  The woman’s voice was flat.  “So he’s dead.”

   Luke winced.  He’d let that slip a lot sooner than he’d intended.  “Yes, he’s been gone for many years now.  I’m so sorry.”

   “Don’t be.  It’s a bit hard for me to mourn someone I never knew.”  She set aside her mug and stood.  “Well, it was very nice of you to come all this way to tell me.”

   “Etan, I don’t think you understand.”

   “No, I do.  Dead father, dead father’s journal, dead father’s friend.  Got it.”  She brushed her hands together.  “I should probably get back to work.”

   Luke sighed.  Communication in delicate situations had never been his strong suit.  For a brief moment he wished his sister was here with him.  Leia would know what to say.

   “I’m afraid you don’t understand at all.  Please, sit down.”  He smiled as gently as he could.  “Please.”

   She continued to gaze at him skeptically for a moment before she finally resumed her seat. 

   Luke took a sip of his own tea.  It tasted like dust and flowers.

   Etan saw his expression and laughed.  It was just the smallest of laughs, and it was at Luke’s expense, but it eased the tension between them somewhat.

   “It’s Corellian,” she explained.  “Got it off a spice trader.  It’s supposed to be good for me.”

   “It’s not so bad,” Luke lied.  He put down his cup, smoothing both hands over the journal.  It felt warm to his touch.

   He tried again.

   “Etan, did you know your father’s name?”

   “His first name, yeah.  That’s about all I was ever able to get out of my mother.  She couldn’t talk about him without crying.  By the time I was ten I just quit asking.”

   Luke felt her through the Force again: this time dull sadness, a distant echo of emotional pain.  He wondered if she had any idea she projected her feelings so strongly.  He doubted she did.

   “Your father’s name was Ben.”

   Her eyes widened ever so slightly.  “Yes.”

   “I never did learn if ‘Ben’ was his birth name or just a name he adopted.  But for most of his life he went by the name Obi-Wan Kenobi.  He was a Jedi knight, my teacher, and a great man.”

   She laughed again.  Then she stopped.

   “Oh.  You’re serious.”

   “I am.”  Luke carefully opened the journal to the pages he’d marked. “After the Jedi fell from power Obi-Wan went into exile on Tatooine.  He was in hiding from the Empire.  A few years later he met a woman.  Omri Darklighter.  She was in Anchorhead, working as a doctor.”

   He held up the page so he could see the handwriting.  “This is where he first mentions her.”

   “No.”  Etan shook her head.  “That can’t be right.  I don’t pretend to know much about the Jedi, but I know they weren’t supposed to have…urm, worldly attachments.”

   “They weren’t.  But the Jedi were also living, breathing individuals, with all the flaws and weaknesses of any being.  So attachments happened more often than you might think,” Luke said with a wry smile. 

   “And you have to remember the Jedi were gone by the time they met.  For the first time in his life Ben was alone.  I don’t think he planned it, but he came to care for Omri very, very much.  So much so that after she left the planet he stopped writing for months, except to track the passing of days.”  Luke flipped through the nearly blank pages in the middle of the book.

   “Ben doesn’t start writing again until here.”  He paused.  “And the first thing he mentions is that Omri had written to him…”

   “Saying she’d had a child,” Etan interrupted.  “She did tell me she’d written to him.  And that he’d never written back.”

   “Ben doesn’t say if the child was a boy or a girl.  Just that he knew it would be safe with its mother, far away from Tatooine.” 

   Luke paused, trying to give Etan a chance to process what he was telling her.      

   “That’s why it’s taken me so long to find you.  Ben didn’t give me much to go on.”

   “He couldn’t very well give you information he didn’t know.”

   “Ben was trying to protect you.  Etan, if anyone had known who you were, the Empire would have had you hunted down and destroyed.”

 _Vader would have seen to it personally,_ Luke thought _._

   “Is that what this…Kenobi person says in his journal?  That he did what he did for my safety, and that of my mother?”

   “Well, not in so many words…”

   “So it’s also entirely possible that they just split up, like millions of couples do, and he didn’t want the responsibility of a kid.”

   “No.  That isn’t what happened.”

   Etan’s blue eyes—Ben’s eyes—had narrowed. 

   “How do you know?  You weren’t there.  And you just said the journal doesn’t give the whole story.  Maybe he was embarrassed about breaking his vows.  Maybe he was ashamed.”

   Luke stood. 

   “I know because I knew him.  Obi-Wan never did anything unless he had a good reason.  And he was the most selfless man I have ever known.”

   “And you know all this because you were his student.” 

   Her eyes widened. 

   “Wait a second.  Skywalker.  I knew I recognized that name!  You’re the one who blew up the first Death Star.  The one who thinks he’s a Jedi knight.”

   Luke pulled himself up to his full height.

   “I don’t ‘think’ I am a Jedi knight.  Obi-Wan Kenobi trained me,” he declared proudly.  “I _am_ a Jedi knight.  Like my father before me.”

   “’Like your father’…are you saying it runs in families?”

   “It can.” 

   Seeing that she’d paled he gentled his voice. 

   “Sometimes it does.  Even you, Etan—I know you’re not aware of it, but you’re projecting your feelings very strongly.”

   He didn’t think she could get any paler, but she did.

   “What are you talking about?  I don’t know anything about the Force.”

   “You don’t have to know anything about it to tap into it.  You’re Ben’s daughter; it’s only to be expected you’d be at least a little Force sensitive yourself…easy!”

   She’d swayed a bit on her feet.  Luke quickly caught her by the arm.

   “I know this is a lot to take in,” he soothed.  “Maybe you should sit down.”

   Instead she yanked her arm away, turning to face the tiny kitchenette.  She laid her forehead down on the cold metal counter.

  “I’ll be fine in a moment.  It’s just a dizzy spell.  It will pass.  They always do.”

   At that moment Luke finally pieced it together.  He supposed he should have seen it sooner, but he’d been so focused on telling her about Kenobi he hadn’t been paying very close attention to anything else.

   The baggy coveralls.  The fullness in her face.  The special tea.  The dizziness.

   He’d seen it all before.  He’d been gone on missions for the Republic during a lot of his sister’s pregnancy, but he’d seen enough.

   Luke frowned.

   “You’re going to have a baby.”

   Etan raised her head from the counter just enough to look at him.  One corner of her mouth quirked up in a half-smile that was utterly devoid of humor.

   “Not very bright for a Jedi, are you?”

    

* * *

 

  Like it?  Should I keep going?  Please read and review!


	2. Twenty years ago, pt. 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Luke Skywalker worries, Ben Solo is a difficult student, and Rey is born.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Author’s note: Thank you to everyone who has left kudos! They help me write faster. The plan is that after this chapter wraps up the story of how Luke first got to know Rey’s mother, there will be four more chapters in keeping with the theme of the title, “Same Time Next Year.” Each will touch on annual events leading up to the destruction of the Jedi Temple and Rey’s abandonment on Jakku.

Luke’s continues his tale where part 1 left off…

 

_Four months later_

 

   Coruscant had been the capitol of the Old Republic, and it was now the capitol of the new one.

   Most of the Emperor’s allies had fled the planet after his death, and his rule had never been a popular one.  It had taken the Rebellion a few months after the Battle of Endor to wrestle control of the planet away from the Imperials. 

   In the end the Empire hadn’t put up much of a fight.

      Luke didn’t care much for the planet.  The endless sea of buildings and people seemed to him like a vast, cold ocean of concrete and neon.  He’d grown up complaining about the isolation on Tatooine.  But overcrowded Coruscant veered too far in the other direction for his taste.

  Still, Leia and Han had an apartment here, so Leia could be close to the Galactic Senate. With Alderaan gone she was no longer a princess in anything other than name.  But she was still a politician, and she was integral to helping the New Republic get back on its feet.

  Luke was endlessly proud of his twin. 

   He would have rather fallen on his lightsaber than stand up in front of the Senate giving a speech.  But he had spent the morning watching her do just that.  Leia spoke forcefully on the need for reconciliation with planets that had favored the Empire during the war, in opposition to other Senators who wanted such planets punished before they would be allowed to rejoin the government of the New Republic. 

   Her oratorical skills had only grown over the years.  When the final vote came down it was decidedly on the side of Leia and her supporters.

   “Well done.”  Luke congratulated her with a kiss on the cheek as they gathered in the gallery afterwards.  “I knew you could do it.”

   “And better me than you, right?”  Leia said with a laugh.

   “Always.”

   Several other Senators—most of them former members of the Rebellion—gathered around to also congratulate her.

   “Don’t get too excited,” Leia told them in her best commander’s voice.  “This was just one battle.”

   “Yet battles must be won before victory can be declared,” Mon Mothma chided Leia softly.  Mon Mothma walked with a cane now, her body increasingly ravaged by illness.  But she remained Leia Organa’s staunchest ally in the Senate.

   “Luke!  Hey!”

   He glanced up to see an old friend walking towards him.  Luke moved to great him.

   “Wedge!  What are you doing here?”

  The two men hugged.  Luke couldn’t help but notice Wedge Antilles now had threads of silver in his dark hair.

   “The same thing I always do here,” the General said with a smile.  “Trying to squeeze more money out of these tight---er, out of the Senate.”

   Luke grinned.  “Nice save.”  He sent a quick look at his sister, and Leia gave him a quick wave of approval if he wanted to leave.

   With a laugh Luke moved aside, watching as Leia’s supporters swept her further down the hall.

   “So how have you been, Wedge?  How are Iella and the girls?”

   “Iella’s fine, and the girls are great.  You should see how big they are now!  Healthy as nerfs and into everything!  Are you here long?  You should come over for dinner—they’d all love to see you.”

   “I’ll be here for a few weeks.  I came here to bring my nephew Ben to visit his parents for a few weeks while the Academy is on break.”    

  Wedge laughed.  “I didn’t know Jedi students took breaks.”

   “Padawns, Wedge, padawans.  And the way I teach they do.  My oldest student is only fourteen, and the youngest is eight,” he explained.  “They still need time with their families when they’re not training.”

   “Didn’t the Jedi take children away from their parents when they were babies?”

   Luke shook his head.  “That was the old way.  I’m following a new path.”

   “Are you allowed to do that?”

   “Well, I am the last Jedi, at least for now.  So yes.”  Luke smiled.  “I take it overseeing the rebuilding of the fleet isn’t going so well, _General_ Antilles?”

   Antilles groaned.  “I thought getting out of combat would make life simpler.  Nice quiet desk job, home to tuck the girls into bed every night…But, politics, Luke.  It’s murder.  I don’t know how Leia stands it.  Give me a straight fight against Imperials any day!”

   The two men walked side by side.  “I thought the funds for the next generation X-wings was already in place,” Luke asked. 

   “Technically, yes.  But some of the Senators have the idea we can save money by retrofitting what’s left of the old fleet before we order anything new.  You’ve seen our fleet, Luke: a lot of it was junk even before Yavin.”

   “Oh, I remember.”

   “So now I’ve had to bring in consultants from all over the galaxy to see if we can make do with what we have, and if so for how much longer.”

   “You knew the job was dangerous when you took it, Wedge,” Luke said with a smile.

   “I guess I did.”  Wedge laughed.  “Oh, hey, Iella met up with that friend of yours you wrote her about, the one that just moved here…”

   “Etan.  Etan Darklighter.”

   “And she seems to be doing fine, if that’s what you were worried about.”

   “I’m glad.” Luke nodded. “I trust Iella’s judgement.”

   Wedge’s wife Iella Wessiri had been in military intelligence before the couple had started a family.  She remained probably the fastest and best judge of character Luke knew.  When Etan had send word that she’d be moving to Coruscant Luke couldn’t think of anyone better to make sure she was all right. 

   Iella was very independent and at times even prickly herself, and she was already a mother of two.  Luke had known she would be able to connect with Etan but not suffocate her with uninvited concern.

   “Darklighter’s working with the engine designers down in the shipyards,” Wedge continued.  “They would have been fools not to hire her.  She used to work for SoroSuub, you know, back before she went freelance.”

   “No, I didn’t know that.”

    “In fact, from the conversations I’ve had with her, and based on some of the suggestions she’s made so far, I suspect a lot of her work since then has been in borderline illegal modifications.”

   “Is that a problem?”  Luke asked innocently.

   “For me?  No.  I appreciate people who can think outside the box.  Besides, she agrees with me that the Republic would save money in the long run if we scrapped all the old X-wings and started over.  So that’s one person on my side.” 

   Wedge glanced over at Luke.  “How do you know her again?  From Tatooine?” 

  “No, I’ve only met her once, much more recently than that.”

  “Oh.  I thought all Darklighters came from Tatooine.”

   “Most of them do, yes.  Supposedly they were the very first family to ever settle there.  Growing up it sometimes seemed like half the human population of the planet was either Darklighters or their relatives,” Luke said with a laugh.  “No, I think it was Etan’s mother who was from Tatooine, not her.”

   “Huh.  You should bring her with you when you come over.  I think Iella would like to see her again.”

  “I can certainly ask her.”

   Wedge grinned.  “Thanks.”

   “Anything to make Iella happy.”

  “Very funny, Skywalker.  Very funny.”

* * *

 

   Luke spent the rest of his day in the Senate’s archives. 

   The Jedi Temple on Coruscant had burned to the ground more than thirty years ago.  Most of their other temples and sites across the galaxy had also been destroyed.

    Trying to piece together the history of the Jedi was nearly impossible.  Luke was still trying. 

   It meant a lot of time spent searching planets that were isolated enough to have hopefully remained beyond Vader’s reach, and a lot of time reading old documents hoping for even a passing mention of the Jedi.

   Every once in a while he succeeded. 

   Two years after Anakin Skywalker’s death Luke had gone back and conducted a search of the ruins of Ben’s hut near the Dune Sea.  Finding Obi-Wan’s journal had nearly overwhelmed him. 

   Luke had no doubt that the old man had concealed it in the crumbling walls specifically for Luke to find someday.  

   Most of the time, though, Luke found nothing.  Today had been one of those days.  

   Now he had barely gotten in the door of Leia and Han’s home when he was confronted by a very anxious protocol droid.

   “Master Luke, thank goodness you’re home!”

   “3PO, what’s wrong?”

   “General Solo was called away to the Hoth system.  He and Chewbacca have departed on the Millennium Falcon.  They are not expected to return for several days.”

   “That’s too bad.  I hope Han took a coat.”

   “Master Ben is taking his departure rather hard, I’m afraid.”

   “Yes, yes of course he is.”  Luke felt a little guilty he hadn’t immediately made the connection.  “All Ben’s been talking about for the last few weeks is how much he wanted to spend some time with his father.” 

   Luke reached out to his nephew through the Force.  He had no trouble sensing Ben’s hurt and anger.  He could also feel Ben pushing back at him, as if resentful of the intrusion into his turbulent emotions.

   Luke shook his head.  “Where’s Leia?”

   “Senator Organa is attending a late night session of the Senate.  General Solo left a note for her.”

   Luke hung up his cloak.  “That figures.”

   R2D2 trundled over to his side, chirping and buzzing with his own news.

   “Well, it’s nice to know Ben’s getting so good at Force slamming doors,” Luke replied with a wry smile.  “I’ll go and talk to him.”

   “Oh, thank you, Master Luke!  I will confess I did not know what to do.  I told Master Ben he should be proud his parents were doing such terribly important work, but that did not seem to console him at all.”

   “I wonder why,” Luke said under his breath as he started up the stairs.  “Ben?”  He asked as he rapped his knuckles on his nephew’s bedroom door.  “May I come in?”

   After a long moment Luke heard a muffled voice.  “OK, Master Skywalker.”

   Luke went in.  Ben was sitting on the floor, surrounded by stacks of books.  He had one open on his lap as if he had been reading.  But Luke could see how red the boy’s eyes were.

   “We’re not at school now, Ben—you can just call me ‘Uncle Luke’ here,” he encouraged.

   “As you wish, Uncle.”   

   Luke sat down on the edge of the bed.  He’d been well aware his ten-year-old nephew had been struggling for the last few months. 

   Ben was smart, capable, and strong in the Force.  But he was also both a Skywalker and a Solo, which meant he was often impatient, easily frustrated, and even angry.   

   Luke had been working with him to try and control his negative emotions.  They hadn’t made as much progress as Luke would have liked.  He’d been planning on discussing Ben’s situation with Han and Leia, but now…

   “Ben, talk to me.  Don’t shut me out.”

   “I’m not shutting you out, Mas—Uncle.  I just want to read in peace.”

   “I know you’re upset Han had to leave.  But he’ll be home before it’s time to go back to Yavin 4.  You’ll still be able to spend some time with him…”

   “I don’t care!” Ben shouted abruptly, the heat of his anger lashing through Luke like a physical force.

   “Ben, control your anger.  You know better than let it get the better of you like that,” Luke scolded.  “Remember what you’ve learned.”

   Ben turned his face away.  Luke could feel him struggling for control. 

   At last Ben’s anger began to ebb.  His little body seemed to sink a bit.

   “It isn’t fair,” Ben said bitterly.  “I told Dad I could have gone with him.  I’m as good a co-pilot as Chewie is.  But Dad just messed up my hair and told me I had to stay here with Mom.”

   Luke sat down on the floor next to Ben.

   “Han went on a mission,” Luke explained.  “He has no idea what kind of situation he’s flying into.  He’d never put you in danger, Ben.  Your dad would die before he’d do that.”

   “Yeah, I know.  But I hate always getting left behind.”

   Luke nodded.  “I felt the same way at your age. I promise you, though: it won’t always be like this.”

   “I know it won’t.”  Ben turned back to look at Luke.  “When I’m a Jedi knight I’m going to go wherever I want, whenever I want.”

   Luke chuckled.  “That’s not really the way it works.”

   “That’s how it will work for me,” Ben vowed.

   Luke smiled at the utter conviction of the boy.  “Maybe it will.” He shifted away one of the stacks of books—histories of the Old Republic, mostly.  Ben loved history.

   “I’ll tell you what.  Your mom won’t be back for another hour or two.  Why don’t you and I watch a holovid while we wait for her?”

   After a moment Ben shrugged.  “Ok.”

   Luke quickly hugged his nephew.  He didn’t do so very often anymore, as he was always careful not to show any favoritism towards any one of his students.

    But Ben was family.  The day of his birth had been one of the happiest of Luke’s life.  Not just because Ben was born strong in the Force, although he had been. 

   Ben tied Luke, Leia, and Han all together.

   Ben Solo was the ultimate proof that what all three of them had fought to achieve for so many years had mattered.  That they’d all, at long last, won.

   As they headed downstairs together Luke made a quick vow to himself to always remember that. 

   He’d pay more attention to the boy in the future.

* * *

 

    Coruscant was, if nothing else, a good place to disappear into the crowd.  As he knocked on the door of a small flat in one of the thousands of buildings he wondered if that was why Etan Darklighter had chosen to come here now.

   When she opened the door and saw him standing there she didn’t smile.  But on the other hand she didn’t slam the door in his face, either.

   “Master Skywalker.  I didn’t know you were on planet.”

   “I’ve only been here a few days.  May I come in?”

   Etan shrugged.  “Suit yourself.”  She waved him into the small living room. 

   The place looked like any other rental in the city: small living room, small kitchenette, wide windows showing off the teeming energy of the city outside.  Two closed doors undoubtedly led to a bedroom and to the fresher.  Even the furnishings were non-descript.

   He turned to face her.  “You look well.”

   “Big, Skywalker.  I look big,” she corrected.

   Indeed her pregnancy was unmistakable now.  The wrap tunic and leggings she wore did nothing to disguise the very noticeable swell of her belly.

   “But you’re fine?  And the baby…?”

   She smoothed her long braid and then rested her hands on her belly for a moment.  “Baby’s fine, thank you for asking.  Only a month and a half to go.”

   “Good.”  

   Luke wanted to ask more, but he didn’t think it would be appropriate.  She might have been Ben Kenobi’s daughter, but Luke would be the first to admit he still barely knew this woman at all.

   “I wanted to thank you for sending me word when you left Quartos,” he said instead. 

   She shrugged.  “Well, I felt like I owed you one after you came all the way out there to see me.”

   Luke was surprised at this.  He didn’t feel like their first meeting had gone well at all.  It had been awkward for both of them, and the revelation of her pregnancy had only made things more awkward. 

   He’d tried to convince her to read Ben’s journal, or at least the parts that pertained to her mother, before he left.  She had flatly refused.

   He hadn’t stayed long after that. 

   But then, Luke hadn’t been sure what he had expected of her in the first place.  He’d gone to her out of obligation, unable to accept that Obi-Wan had a child someplace in the universe who’d never know of the great Jedi knight and teacher.

   Luke knew that deep in his heart there was guilt, too. 

   Obi-Wan had stayed on Tatooine instead of following his lover off-world.  The diary didn’t say so, but Luke strongly suspected it was out of obligation to him. 

   Ben had neglected his own child in favor of watching over Anakin Skywalker’s only son. 

   Luke had had no say in the matter, of course.  But how could he not feel at least a little guilty when said child was now grown up and standing here in front of him?

   “I had the oddest feeling you might worry if you didn’t know where I’d gone,” she continued.  “You look like a worrier.  No offense.”

   “None taken.”  He looked out at the streams of early evening traffic outside the window.  “Quite a dramatic change, though.”

   “It is.  But the best medical care in the galaxy is on Coruscant.  Plus there’s work for me here.”

   “Yes, Wedge told me.”

   “I’m sorry, you call General Antilles ‘Wedge’?”

   “I do.  We go way back, the two of us.”

   “Huh.  Well, it’s a desk job, of course.  Dull and bureaucratic most of the time.  But since I can’t exactly squeeze into any bulkheads at the moment…” 

   Luke smiled. 

   “What’s so funny?”  She asked.

   “You always sound so…definitive when you speak.”

   “Definitive?”

   “Precise, then.  It reminds me of Obi-Wan.” 

   She frowned.    “Skywalker…”

   He quickly held up his hands.  “I’m sorry, but it’s the truth.”

   “You came here just to try and tell me more stories about my father?”

   “Actually, no,” he corrected.  “Wedge wants me to bring you with me to dinner at his place.  Being able to tell you stories about Obi-Wan is just a side benefit.”

   Her mouth opened slightly in surprise.  “Antilles’ time is valuable.  I’d hate to intrude.”

   “You wouldn’t be.  He and Iella have already said they’d love to have you.”

   “Yes, Iella’s been very kind to me.”  Etan frowned.  “Skywalker, I thought I made it pretty clear on Quartos: I don’t need or want anything from you or anybody else.”

   “So?”

   “So why are you going to so much trouble now?”

   “Because,” Luke said honestly, “on a planet of millions you shouldn’t be stuck inside this apartment all by yourself.  Wedge said you and Iella already know each other, and it’s just dinner.  Surely that baby’s hungry by this time of day.  So, what do you say?”

   Etan rubbed her belly again absently. 

   “Yeah.  Yeah, fair enough.”

* * *

 

   They settled into a strange sort of routine after that.

   As he had time between visiting with his sister’s family, studying, and meditation, Luke checked in on Etan and made sure there was nothing she needed or wanted.

   She complained about it every time.  She didn’t need or want anything, she’d say, and if she did she’d ask Iella, not him—Iella was the one who’d already given birth twice, after all, she’d remind him.

   Luke didn’t let that change his mind.  He was learning a lot about Etan and how her mind worked.  Like a lot of people who had been on their own for a very long time, she had a tendency to try to push people away.  In that way she actually reminded Luke a bit of Han when Luke had first known him.

   Luke told no one else who Etan’s father had been.  Not even Leia.  Not because he didn’t think his sister wouldn’t welcome Ben’s daughter with open arms.  Quite the opposite, in fact.  Ben Kenobi had meant a great deal to Leia, enough that she had named her only child after him.  Luke could only imagine the pleasure Leia would take in getting to know Ben’s daughter and his soon-to-be-born grandchild.

   Therein lay the problem.  Leia did not love easily.  When she did her love was both fierce and unconditional.  Luke had no doubt Leia would insist on providing Etan with all sorts of attention, perhaps even insisting on some sort of recognition from the New Republic as Kenobi’s heir.

   Luke knew Etan will enough now to know she would have hated every second of that.

   Then of course there was the added issue of safety.  Even dead Obi-Wan still had enemies, starting with the still very active remnants of the Empire. 

   The Imperials had never had any compunctions about harming children if it served their ends.  Ben Solo was being trained to fight as a Jedi, and had already built his first lightsaber.  But even now, if he wasn’t with Luke or with one of his parents, he had the two droids with him.

   Etan would soon have a newborn with her.  A newborn who wouldn’t be capable of defending itself for a very long time.  

   And if that newborn should be born Force-sensitive…

* * *

 

   Iella was too circumspect to inquire into exactly what Luke and Etan’s relationship was.

   Wedge, however, was not.

   “You’re worried, Luke,” Wedge said to him one afternoon after Luke had stopped by the family’s apartment to visit. 

   Wedge’s two little girls, Syal and Myri, had greeting Luke with their usual unbridled enthusiasm.  But they were now once again happily distracted by their dolls.

   “More worried than usual, which for you is saying something,” Wedge added as they stood together on the open balcony overlooking the city.

   “Not ‘more than usual,’” Luke said with a sigh.

   “You didn’t used to sigh as much either.”

   “We were a lot younger then, Wedge.  There didn’t seem to be as much to worry about back then.”

   “Oh, no, just the Empire, two Death Stars, the Imperial navy…”

   “Ice planets,” Luke added, getting into the spirit.

   “Broken-down X-wings.”

   “Bounty hunters.”

   “Hutts.”

   “Lando’s flying skills.”

   Both men broke into peals of laughter. 

   “It does seem like a very long time ago,” Luke admitted when they’d finally stopped laughing.  

    “Yeah, it does.”  Wedge glanced over his shoulder into the living room, where his young daughters played.  “Now it’s those two without a care in the world, and it’s my job to try and keep it that way.”

   “You and Iella are doing a great job, Wedge.”

   “I hope so.”  Antilles frowned.  “Hey, Luke?”

   “Yes?”

   “Just so you know.  About Etan.  If that’s your kid she’s carrying, no one is going to think any less of you.”

   Luke was startled into silence for a moment.  He knew Wedge well enough not to take offense.

   “Thank you, Wedge.  It’s not mine, but I appreciate the sentiment.”

   “OK.”  Antilles gazed back out over the horizon. 

    “Just wanted you to know,” he repeated.       

* * *

 

 

   Luke was deep in meditation.

   He had been for hours, though he was only vaguely aware of the passage of time.

   In was often hard for him to meditate on Coruscant.  Back on Yavin he had the temple, and the vast jungles surrounding it.

   Here there was virtually no open, green space at all.  Those parks that did exist teemed with crowds every hour of the day.

   Leia had arranged for him to have his own small apartment during this visit.  Luke had set it up to be as bare of distractions as possible.  He’d darkened the windows overlooking the city and sat with his back to them so as not to feel the artificial energy beyond.

   Meditation was a Jedi’s greatest weapon.  It focused the mind, rested the body, and connected one with the Force.

   Sometimes Luke thought he was happiest when he was meditating.  He didn’t have to think about anything.  All he had to do was open his mind and let the Force surround him.  All was peace inside the Force. 

   It could be actually difficult to return at times.

   It wasn’t this time.

   A light, bright and sharp as if it had been shone directly into his mind, startled him out of his focus.

   He opened his eyes to find everything was still dark.

   Yet there was something different.  Something new.

   _Someone_ new.

   The presence was so strong it was as if it was in the same room with him. 

   Luke’s heart was racing.  He took a deep breath.

   He stretched out his feelings, as Obi-Wan had taught him to do when he was barely more than a boy.

   The presence in the Force was unfocused, unsure.

   But strong.  So very strong.

   Luke had only felt this kind of shift in the Force once before, when Ben had been born. 

   He jumped to his feet and grabbed the comm link.

   The last time he’d spoken to Etan she’d told him she was still a week or two from delivery. 

   Luke now knew she’d been wrong.

   He wasn’t really surprised when there was no answer on the other end.

   As quickly as he could he threw on a shirt and headed for the door.

* * *

 

   The nursing droid that greeted him at the door to Etan’s apartment was a similar design to C-3PO, but with a much larger head and wide eyes that Luke suspected were supposed to make it look friendly and reassuring.

   “You are a stranger,” it told him in a vaguely female voice, “and your bioscans indicate you have no need of medical care at this moment.  You are unwelcome.”

  “I’m a friend.”

   “My records do not indicate you have access to the patient.  You are unwelcome.”

   Luke hated arguing with droids.  He got enough of that at home.

   “Look, why don’t you just go ask…”

   “N3, what are you carrying on about?”  A female Mon Calamari had approached the door.  She smiled at him.

   “Just ignore N3—she’d always a bit overprotective at a birth.  Who are you?”

   “I’m Luke Skywalker.  I’m a friend of the family.”  That was true enough, in its own odd way. 

  “Hello, Master Skywalker, my name is Tal.  I’m the midwife.”

   “The baby’s arrived, hasn’t it?”

   “It has.  A bit early, but all is well.”  Tal tilted her large head to one side.  “How did you know?  I have not yet even had a chance to record the birth.”

   “Sometimes Luke just knows things.”  Iella Antilles had appeared from the bedroom, a blanket neatly folded over one arm.

   “Ah.”  The midwife stood back and gestured for Luke to enter.  He would have sworn N3 eyed him resentfully as he passed.

   “Etan is all right?”  Luke asked.

   “She is.”  Iella smiled at him as she draped the blanket over the nearby sofa.  “I hope you’ll be warm enough with this, Tal.”

   She turned back to Luke.  “Tal’s a family friend, Luke.  She delivered Myri, too.  You know, I think Etan’s been waiting up for you.  Why don’t you go in and say ‘hello’?”

   “That would be ok?”

   The midwife smiled.  “Yes, if you keep your visit brief.  Mother and baby need their rest.  N3 and I will be spending the night here in case we’re needed.”

   “And I’ll be back in the morning,” Wedge’s wife promised.

   The midwife settled down on the couch.  The droid rolled over to the corner to recharge. 

   “Ten minutes, Master Skywalker.  No longer,” Tal cautioned.

   Luke nodded. 

   He crossed the room and tapped gently on the bedroom door.

   “You can come in,” Etan told him in a soft voice.

   The lights in the small room were off, but outside the windows Coruscant traffic continued to whiz by, casting lights and shadows onto the walls.

   Etan was sitting propped up in bed, a small bundle in her arms.  She smiled slightly.  “I was wondering when you’d show up.”

   “I didn’t want to interrupt.”  It was only a few steps to the edge of the bed.  “How are you feeling?”

   “Tired.  Glad it’s over.”  Etan pulled back the blanket wrapped around the infant a bit.  “Want to see her?”

   Luke nodded. 

   The child was smaller than Ben had been when he was born.  Her red face was scrunched up in her sleep, as if she was deep in thought.  Tufts of downy brown hair stuck out from her tiny head.

   “Does she have a name yet?”

   Etan nodded slightly, so as not to jostle her daughter. 

   “Rey.  Cass told me once that was his mother’s name.  Seemed appropriate.”

   Luke reached down and touched the back of one tiny hand.  “Hello, Rey.  Welcome to the universe.”

   Neither of them spoke for a long moment.  Finally Etan sighed and looked up at him.

   “I know what you’ve come to tell me, Skywalker, and you really don’t have to.  I may not be a Jedi, but even I can feel it.  She’s powerful, isn’t she.”

   It was a statement, not a question.

   Luke nodded, relieved not to have to deliver the news.

   “Yes, she is.  The Force is strong in this one.  Very, very strong.”

   Etan chewed at her bottom lip.  “Ok, then.  What do I do now?”

   “I’m no expert. “  Luke smiled.  “But I’d say you do what any mother would do.  You raise her.  You love her.  She’ll do fine.  And, when she’s old enough, and if you want me to, I’ll train her myself.  You have my word.”

   The woman shook her head.  “And if I don’t want that for her?  If _she_ doesn’t want that?”

   Luke thought briefly of his nephew. Ben had always talked of become a Jedi.  And yet…

   He shook off the thought.

   “Rey will always be Force sensitive.  And she will likely become more so as she grows.  But becoming a Jedi isn’t the path for everyone.”

   Luke wasn’t sure how to read the woman’s expression.  He could feel all her tangled emotions: exhaustion, jubilation, fear, hope…

   She turned her attention back to her daughter, gently smoothing the baby’s hair.

   “Fair enough,” Etan said.  “I’m still going to try to talk her into becoming a pilot instead.”

   “She can be both, you know.  I was.”

   “Or a doctor.”  She kissed Rey’s forehead.  “My mama--your grandmamma--was a doctor, Rey, did you know that?”  She cooed.  “She would have loved you.”

   “Obi-Wan would have, too.”

   For once Etan didn’t look angry at the mention of her father. 

   “I did briefly think of naming her Rey Kenobi,” she confessed to Luke.  “But I don’t think that would be safe, do you?”

   “It’s…complicated, Etan.  It’s rare for children to be born with Force abilities.  And most who are just sensitive to it, like you are.  The problem as I see it is that other Force wielders will always be able to pick up on Rey’s energy, at least until she can be taught to control it.  There’s nothing we can do about that.  But letting people know she’s Obi-Wan’s grandchild as well probably wouldn’t be a good idea.”

   “I’ve already decided we won’t be staying on Coruscant,” Etan admitted.  “Wedge and Iella have been wonderful.  But there’re too many people here, too much…everything.  I want Rey to grow up like I did, on worlds where there is fresh air and room to run.”

   “You could bring her to Yavin 4.”  The words were out of Luke’s mouth before he could stop them.

   Etan’s mouth quirked in amusement.  “Where she and I would do…what, exactly, Master Skywalker?  She may be strong in the Force but she’s still a newborn.  Or are you going to tell me your Jedi Temple has a nursery?”

   Luke’s shoulders sagged.  He wasn’t sure if it was with relief or with disappointment.

   “No, you’re right.  Bad idea.  I just finished saying we shouldn’t tip our hand about her being related to Obi-Wan.  Taking her to Yavin at this point would be a dead giveaway there was something special about her.”

   Etan expression darkened.  “Are there really so many people who would want to harm her?”

    Luke shook his head.  “Not so very many, not anymore.”

   “But the remnants of the Empire are still out there,” Etan observed.

   “Yes, they are.” 

   Luke gazed out the window at the traffic.  He tried to smile. 

   “You take Rey wherever you need to go, Etan.  Raise her as you see fit.  I’ll check up on you when I can, and if the two of you need me I’ll never be far away.”

   Etan nodded slightly, holding one of Rey’s tiny hands in her own.

   “Promise?”

   Luke nodded.  “I promise.”

   “Good.  Rey and I are going to hold you to that.” 

 

 


	3. Nineteen years ago

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Luke has the first of his annual visits with Rey and her mother, and Etan learns more about what it means to parent a baby Jedi.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Author’s note: Finally had some time to write! This chapter takes place four years before Rey is abandoned on Jakku, and thus nineteen years (huzzah, we have a chapter title!) before events in TFA. At some point I’m going to let Etan narrate parts of this story. But Luke, delightful cinnamon roll he is, has turned out to be so much fun to write I’m sticking with his POV for now.

 

   Etan hadn’t been exaggerating about wanted to get away from crowded Coruscant.  Not long after Luke and Ben had returned to Yavin 4 she’d sent him a letter informing him that she and Rey had relocated once again, this time to Dac.

   Luke had been a bit bemused when he’d viewed R2’s projection of her words.  Dac was the proper name for the planet most humans just called Mon Calamari, after arguably the most notable species indigenous to it. 

   The Mon Calamari were great scholars, physicians, engineers, and artists.  Luke had never been to the capital where Etan had settled, Coral City.  But he’d heard it was an impressive place, a vast city floating on one of the planet’s many oceans.

   He told Etan as much when he wrote back to acknowledge he’d received her message.  She wrote him again and told him Coral City was more than just impressive.  It was beautiful, she said.  Etan explained she’d spent much of her teenage years on Dac while apprenticed to a ship designer.  She thus had old friends on the planet who were helping her manage the day to day demands of single parenthood, with no awkward questions asked.

   Luke was glad to hear she had support.  Leia had had him, Han, Chewie, and two droids and she’d _still_ had moments where baby Ben had exhausted her to the point of tears.  He couldn’t imagine Etan trying to manage completely alone.

  Over the next few months they continued to exchange occasional letters.  Luke was genuinely interested in hearing how Rey was doing.  But he soon found he just enjoyed talking to someone, even via remote text projection, who wasn’t a part of his very small day-to-day world at the temple.   On Yavin 4 he was always “Jedi Master Skywalker.”  He was always in charge, always the person students and staff looked up to, and always the person they came to for answers. 

   To Etan he was just “Luke Sykwalker,” some guy who’d dropped into her life unexpectedly but with whom she’d reached, if not exactly a friendship, then a mutual rapport.   

   Personally he thought his letters to Etan must be terribly boring.  He never seemed to have much to talk about.  He didn’t dare talk about Obi-Wan.  Instead he talked about his newest students, about what he was learning about the Jedi, and even, occasionally, about the weather.

   She didn’t seem to mind. 

   At one point she even wrote to him that he was welcome to come and see Coral City for himself whenever he liked.

   He hadn’t forgotten his promise to her the day Rey had been born.  It took many months to find any space at all in his schedule.  But shortly after Rey turned a year old Luke was finally able to board his old X-wing and head for the Mon Calamari sector.

* * *

 

  Coral City, like all the other cities on Dac, floated in a vast expanse of blue ocean.  There were a few taller buildings but much of the city, Luke knew, was actually hidden from view, below the surface of the water.

   For a man from a desert planet the sight of so much water was nearly overwhelming.

   He landed at the civilian space port and climbed down the ladder the ground crew provided.  The ground beneath his feet felt strange, almost spongy.  With a laugh he realized that was because he wasn’t standing on real ground at all, but on a massive pontoon that rose ever so slightly with each wave.

   “You’re late,” Etan Darklighter told him after he’d passed through the cursory customs inspection.

   “Bad weather on Yavin delayed me for a few hours.  Still made good time, though.”

   “Mmmhhm,” she said non-committedly.  “Can’t believe you flew that old bucket of bolts all the way here.  Your buddy Antilles is decommissioning the rest of those, did you know?”

   “Yeah, but this one’s mine.  As long as it flies, I’m keeping it.”

   Etan looked different than the last time he’d seen her, older, somehow.  She was perhaps a bit too thin now, and she’d trimmed her auburn hair back to her shoulders.  There were dark circles around her blue eyes.

   She also looked happy, genuinely happy, for the first time in their acquaintance.

   Luke had no doubt the reason for Etan’s happiness was the toddler seated on her hip in a Mon Calamari-style sling. 

   Rey now had a head full of brown hair that had been carefully brushed and twisted up into little buns.  She was sucking her thumb and regarding Luke with calm curiosity.

    “Hello, Rey,” he said gently.  “You’ve gotten big.”

   “I hope you’re planning on seeing more of the planet than just Coral City while you’re here, Master Skywalker,” Etan told him as they walked across one of the dozens of bridges that connected the different parts of the floating city together. 

   She’d promised him lunch at her place.  He had no need to stop at his hotel quite yet.  Luke had traveled light, as Jedis do, with just one shoulder bag and, of course, his lightsaber, tucked carefully inside his belt and hidden under his black cloak.

   “I can only take a few days away from the Academy,” he now confessed.  “But I’m hoping to visit with Gial Ackbar while I’m here.  He’s retired someplace down south.  Leia would never forgive me if I didn’t stop in and see how he’s doing.”

   “Ah, the Admiral.  I saw him once, you know, on an inspection tour of the docklands when I was working there.  This was years ago, of course.  He was…impressive.”

   Luke pictured the tall Mon Calamari in the traditional all-white uniform of Dac’s officer corps.

   “He still is.”

   Although Luke was looking forward to seeing the underwater portions of the city, he was a bit relieved to discover Etan’s rented home was on the surface.  In was on the first floor of the building, with water just lapping at the base of the windows.

  She laughed when he mentioned this.

   “Yeah, a few hours below the surface is fine.  But it can be a little disorienting for a human to live down there.  I told the estate agent I had to have a place where I could see the sky.  I’m still trying to get Rey on a sleep schedule, and natural daylight and nightfall seems to help.  Well, most of the time: last night she didn’t go to bed until 3am.”

    Lunch was Mon Calamari style: a crunchy seaweed salad and warm soup that tasted like the sea.  Rey sat in a high chair playing with her salad and then dropping most of it on the floor.  She did manage to swallow a few bites though.

   When lunch was finished and Etan had wiped the face of her very squirmy daughter, they went into the small living room and sat down.  Luke cleared his throat.

   “I hope you don’t mind, but I brought something I want to show you.  Well, you and Rey,” he told Etan.

   Rey, who was sitting on a blanket on the floor surrounded by toys, looked up when Luke spoke her name.

   “Please tell me it’s not a lightsaber,” Etan said, only half-joking.

   “It’s definitely not a lightsaber.  That’s something a Jedi should always build him or herself, if possible.”

   Etan shook her head.  “I hope you don’t have your heart set on Rey wanting to be a Jedi when she grows up, Skywalker.  Because I have to say, all signs point to her being an engineer like me.  Or maybe a pilot, like her father.”

   Luke chuckled.  “How do you know?”

   “I know because every time I turn my back she’s into my tool kit.  This kid had never seen a hydrospanner she didn’t like.  She’ll spend hours just playing with gaffe tape.”

   Rey smiled at her mother’s praise, showing off the two tiny white teeth she had.

   “Perhaps you’re right,” Luke said.  “After all, she’s still very young.” 

   He reached into his bag and produced what he’d brought along with him.

   It was an opaque cube made of thick polyacrylic, each side about the length of a man’s hand.

   “Anyway, this is what I wanted to show you both.”  He sat it flat on an open palm.  “Watch.”

   Luke focused his mind.  Almost immediately the cube’s different sides burst into color, one moment blue, another red, then pink, then yellow.

   Rey shrieked with excitement.

   Even Etan looked intrigued.  “How are you doing that without touching it?  Is it heat sensitive?”

   “Nope.”  Luke smiled.  “It’s Force sensitive.  Just finished building it.”

    “Uh, ok.”  Etan was quiet for a moment, rubbing her tired eyes.  “Where did you get that idea?”  She finally asked.

  “Well.” Luke made himself comfortable on the floor, opposite the baby.  He set down the box, now plain white again, in front of Rey.  “A friend of mine sketched it for me, based on what he remembered.” 

   “Another Jedi?  I thought you were the last one.”

   “No, Lor isn’t a Jedi.  He’s…you’d call him a follower or an acolyte, I guess.  During the days of the Old Republic there were lots of people like him, people who believed in the Jedi and what they stood for, even if they weren’t Force sensitive themselves.  They helped care for younglings, helped maintain the temples, all sorts of things.”  Luke frowned.  “Most of them were killed when the Emperor had the Jedi purged.”

   “But this friend of yours survived?”

   “He was assigned to a small temple in the Outer Rim.  By the time Imperials arrived he’d already fled into exile.”

   Etan had propped her elbow on the arm of the sofa, her legs curled underneath her.  “Poor man.  What did he do, all those years?”

   He smiled.  “Lor married another former acolyte; he farmed.  Lived his life.  After the Empire he and a handful of people like him sought me out.  They had helped sustain the Jedi.  Now they wanted to help rebuild it.  Lor and his wife—Marat, is her name—live at the Jedi Temple on Yavin 4 now.  I don’t know how I’d manage day-to-day without them.”  

     Etan’s eyebrows arched.  “So he’s the one who told you the Jedi used to make baby toys?”

   “It’s not a baby toy, exactly. It was a way to help Jedi evaluate potential candidates for the Order, even if they were too young to speak yet.  Lor was able to give me a very rough description, but it’s taken me awhile to figure out how to make it work.”

   “ _She_ certainly seems to think it’s a toy.”  The woman nodded at Rey, who was enthusiastically pounding on the box with her chubby fists, trying to reproduce the light display she’d seen when Luke had held it.

   “It’s fine if she does.  I just want to see what she makes of it.”

   Indeed Rey was working hard at trying to figure out the riddle before her.  When banging on it didn’t help, she tried patting it; when that failed she tried turning it over and over again.  The baby let out a quiet huff of frustration as she worked, stopping periodically to look up at Luke as if waiting for him to help.

   “You can figure it out for yourself, youngling,” Luke told the little girl with a smile.  “You just have to keep at it.”

   Etan stifled a small yawn.  “Rey’s very stubborn, Master Skywalker.  If she finds out this is some trick she’s never going to trust you again.”

   “It’s no trick.  Inside of that box are a few chips of the crystals traditionally used inside of lightsabers.  They respond to the Force.  They will respond to Rey, if she can focus her mind.”

   “You do realize asking a toddler to focus is a bit like asking a wild gundark to behave.”

   “Oh, I know.  I’m just curious.”

   For the next ten minutes Luke and Rey played with the box.  Twice more Luke operated it, showing the little girl the colors again.  Twice more she repeated the ritual of banging and turning it, trying to reproduce the same colors.

   Finally, Rey stuck out her bottom lip mulishly.  For a moment Luke was sure she was about to burst into tears.  Instead she gazed steadily at the box.

   A flicker of green light cascaded over one side, and then disappeared.

   Rey joyously clapped her hands and laughed.

   “There, you see?  I told you you could do it!”  Luke clapped his hands, too.  He remembered this from when Ben was a baby: the simple joy of a child’s laugh, rippling through the Force like a soft rain.

   “Did you see that?”  Luke tried not to smirk as he turned back to Etan, only to discover she’d fallen asleep, her head resting on her arm.

   “Uh oh.  Well, she did say you kept her up all night,” Luke said to the baby.  “I guess we let her sleep for a little while.”

   He and Rey played for a bit longer.  After a while the box no longer held her interest, even when Luke lit it for her.  Instead she invented a new game, which seemed to consist mainly of handing all of her plush toys to Luke one at a time.  When she grew tired of that, she rubbed her eyes just as her mother had and yawned loudly.

   “You must need a nap.”  Luke glanced over at the sofa, where Etan was still sound asleep.  "OK, I know how to do this.  Let’s go put you in your crib.  You’re bound to have a crib someplace, right?”

   The child didn’t protest when he picked her up.  In fact, she snuggled against his shoulder.

   He found the door to the nursery on his first try.  It was a small space, with two wide windows and the vast ocean beyond each.  The walls were a soft blue, and over the crib was a mobile of tiny X- and B-wings.

   He left the door open, so Etan wouldn’t panic when she woke up and found her daughter no longer in the living room.

   Luke carefully tucked Rey under a light blanket.  The little girl yawned mightily again and began to doze.

   Not sure of the etiquette in such a situation, Luke decided to sit in the adult-sized chair in the nursery, one Etan no doubt occupied during the long evening hours when her daughter refused to sleep.

   Soon he could hear Rey’s steady breathing.  The waves lapping at the windows made a similar sound, a ceaseless, timeless, back-and-forth.

   Luke sat still and focused his mind. 

   He could feel Rey, tiny bright spot in the Force that she was.  He could feel Etan, not as strong but still very much present. 

   There was something incredibly restful about being in their combined presence.  He could feel the strong bond that ran between mother and daughter, even when they were asleep and in different rooms. 

   He reached out further with his senses, taking note of all the other life forms in the city going about their business.  He reached further, finding Leia aboard the Falcon with Han.  He brushed against his sister’s consciousness gently, so as not to startle her.  A moment later he felt a subtle tug traveling back to him, Leia letting him know she’d heard him and that she was fine.

   Luke couldn’t reach out to his brother-in-law, because Han was about as Force-blind as anyone he’d ever met.  But Luke had learned to find Han’s solid, still presence in the Force, just as he’d learned to check on Chewie and Wedge and Lor and all of his other non-Force sensitive friends.

  He then reached even further, touching briefly on each of his students.  Some of the newest ones were actually young adults, and were thus struggling a bit more with their studies, just as Luke had.  He sent them support and reassurance through the Force.

  Luke could sense that Ben was alone in his room, as he was all too often these days.  He brushed up against Ben’s mind, only to feel Ben abruptly push him away.

   Luke opened his eyes with a start.  He sighed. 

   “Skywalker?”

   He heard Etan’s voice from the living room.

   “We’re in here,” he replied.

   A second later Etan herself appeared.  She went over to the crib and peered down.

   “How did you get her to go to sleep without a fight?”  She asked Luke in a whisper.

   “Jedi mind trick.”

   At her alarmed expression he quickly held up his hands and stood up.  “Joke.  And one in poor taste.  Sorry.  I guess she was worn out.  So were you.”

   “Yes, I was.  Thanks for letting me sleep.”

   “Not at all.”

   “Were you asleep?”

   “No, just meditating.  It’s very restful here.”

   Etan smiled.  “It’s the sound of the water.”

   “That does help.  But being around other Force sensitives like you and Rey does, too.”

    Etan smoothed her sleeping daughter’s hair.  “It must have been something in the old days, then, huh?  All those thousands of Jedi.”

   Luke nodded sadly.  “It must have been.  They lived, and trained, and worked together, all of them one in the Force.  I’m not sure, but I think it must have been pretty close to bliss.”

   “You sound like you’re sorry you missed that.”

   “I try not to dwell on the past.  But I am, a bit.  How could I not be?”

   “Hmm.”  Etan stared down at her sleeping daughter for a long moment.  “Skywalker?”  She said at last.

   “Yes?”

   “I’ve been wondering…”

   “Yes?”

   “Nothing.  Never mind.”

   She was sad, suddenly.  Luke could feel it, but he wasn’t sure of the cause.

   “You can ask me anything you’d like, Etan.”

   “Well, I’ve just been wondering lately.  About my f…about Kenobi.  Do you think he was…happy?  Before Tatooine?  I mean, taken as a baby, raised by other Jedi to be a Jedi.  He would have been a part of that old Jedi oneness you were talking about.  But do you think he was ever happy?  When he was Rey’s age, say?  Or even mine?”

   Luke could sense that his answer meant a great deal to her.

   “I think that the Jedi Order was the only world he ever knew, the only way of life.  So in that sense, at least…yes, I think he was happy.”

   Etan smiled, ever so slightly.

   “Good,” she said. 

 

 


	4. Eighteen Years Ago

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ben and Rey meet for the first time. They stack rocks. It’s awkward.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Author’s note: sorry for the delay, folks: lately it seems like finding time to write is getting harder and harder. Oh, well: onward and upward! One last relatively peaceful chapter before our heroes’ lives really start to go sideways. And if you like what you’re reading, do please read and review.

> Eighteen years ago…

 

   “Ben, hurry up, please.  We’re going to be late.”

   “Just trying to get the last of the mud out of my boots, Master Sykwalker.  I’ll be right there.”

   Luke chuckled slightly to himself as he waited for his nephew on the shuttle ramp. Since he was flying a Republic shuttle on this trip he’d chosen to land at Dac’s military port.  The place was bustling, a good sign, Luke thought, that even with the rising unrest across the galaxy Dac remained strong and stable.

   Ben Solo appeared at his side.  The boy was nearly thirteen now, and had shot up two inches in the past year, emphasizing his thin frame and long arms and legs. 

   Ben still favored his mother in appearance but was clearly going to rival his father in height. 

   To Luke’s eyes Ben suddenly seemed to be made up of all sharp teenage angles.

   Luke laid a hand on Ben’s shoulder, smoothing the padawan robes the boy wore.

   “I did warn you Dagobah has a way of staying with you,” Luke jested.

   Ben just nodded at him.

   Luke tried not to hide his disappointment at Ben’s lack of reaction.

   They caught another smaller, domestic shuttle to take them to the house on the outskirts of Coral City where Etan Darklighter had promised to meet them.  As Ben gazed silently out the window at the seascapes beyond Luke allowed himself to tune out the voices of the other passengers and reflect on his own thoughts for moment.

   He had hoped that taking Ben to Dagobah would be a bonding experience for the two of them.  Ben had been so distant lately, not just from his friends and family but from his Jedi training, too.  Luke often felt as if his nephew was just going through the motions.

   Luke had had a strange, uneasy feeling for months now.  He couldn’t quite figure out its source.  Ben’s Force presence was still there, still powerful as ever.  But Luke often felt as if Ben was deliberately disengaging from it, as if he no longer wanted to hear it or feel it.  Ben always denied this, of course.  The boy continued to insist everything was fine.

   That was why, with Han and Leia’s blessing, Luke had decided to take on Ben as a padawan learner instead of just a student.  He’d had Ben shadow him in the day to day running of the Jedi Temple on Yavin 4, and for the last few weeks Ben had been with him as Luke traveled from planet to planet on Jedi business.

   Part of that business had been a visit to Dagobah.  They had camped in the swamp for a week, alternately training and meditating.  Luke told Ben again about Yoda, and of all of the great Jedi Master’s wise words. Ben had listened politely but without enthusiasm. 

   The only time Ben had seemed at all interested is when, one night around the campfire, Luke had told him about the time he, Luke, had deserted his training to try and rescue Han and Leia on Bespin.

   “Do you think Vader manipulated the Force to lure you to Bespin?”  Ben had asked.

   “I don’t think so, at least not directly.  Your grandfather knew that threatening my friends would draw me out sooner or later.  I’ve told you before that the Force feels all of our actions, and often will show us the possible outcomes of any decisions we make.  It was those possibilities that Yoda and I sensed here on Dagobah.”

   “But it was Vader that set things in motion,” Ben had argued.

   “I do wish you’d call him ‘grandfather,’” Luke had corrected.  “Or at least Anakin.”

   “Mother and Father call him Vader.”

    Luke had raised his eyebrows.  “They discuss him with you?”

   “No, but I hear them talking sometimes.”  Ben had shrugged.  “About him.  And about me.”

   “Ben, you have to remember that your parents only knew Anakin when he was on the Dark Side of the Force.  They didn’t get to see him repent like I did.  Your grandfather was strong in the Dark Side, that’s true: but he was even stronger in the Light.  In the end the Light drew him back.  The Light can draw anyone back.  Remember that.”

   “Yes, Master Skywalker,” Ben had said.

   But Luke had known the boy had lost interest again.

   Ben had insisted on visiting the Cave of Evil under the gnarltree while they were on Yoda’s old home world.

   He hadn’t been inside long.

   He was still refusing to tell Luke what he had experienced there.

   Luke was trying not to take it personally.  He assumed the boy was still trying to process whatever he’s seen.

   The shuttle bumped to a stop, and Luke pushed his dark thoughts away lest Ben pick up on them.  He smiled and gestured for Ben to follow him.

   “Let’s go, my padawan learner.  We have much to do while we’re here.”

* * *

 

   As they stepped into the courtyard of the whitewashed villa, Luke felt immediately at ease.  It wasn’t just the fresh breeze and the smell of the salt air that soothed him.  He now knew from experience it was the Force bond of the woman and child he’d come to visit reaching out to him, including him in its embrace.

   Ben had paused a bit, sensing the change but unsure of its source.  The boy’s head was tipped to one side, as if listening intently for something.

   Luke grinned.

   “What do you sense, Ben?” He asked.

   “The Force, Master.  It’s strong here.  Why?”

   “Let’s go find its source, shall we?”

   The glass doors slid open, and Etan herself appeared.  Today she was dressed in simple blue Mon Calamari robes.  In the year since Luke had seen her last her hair had grown long again, and was now neatly braided to one side.

   It fascinated Luke, this pattern of annual visits the two of them had developed.  Every time they met each of them was a year older, with a year’s worth of life events behind them that the other would never know about.  And yet each time it was as if no time had passed at all.

   “Master Skywalker, hello,” she told him.  “Come inside and have some tea.”

   “Mistress Darklighter.  Most pleasant to see you again.”  Luke steered his nephew inside. 

   The house was spacious and made almost entirely of glass.  The wide open space afforded spectacular views of the ocean and of a large garden in the back.  The doors to the garden were open, and Luke could hear childish laughter from it.

   “I’m sorry, I couldn’t get Rey to come inside,” Etan told him.  “This is the first sunny day we’ve had in a while and she and her dolls are soaking up the sun.”

   “I understand.”  Luke nudged Ben forward.  “Etan Darklighter, I’d like you to meet my padawan, Ben Solo.  Ben, this is Etan Darklighter.”

   Etan smiled.  “Hello, Ben Solo.  It’s very nice to meet you.”

   “Hello.”  Ben was regarding her steadily.  “You’re Force sensitive.  I can feel you.”

   Luke cringed a bit.  “Ben…” 

   Clearly he and his padawan were going to have to have another conversation about manners.  Force, but sometimes Ben’s bluntness was worse than Han’s!

   Etan looked slightly startled, but she nodded.  “It’s all right, Master Skywalker.”  She turned back to Ben.  “You’re right, I guess I am.”

   “But you’re not Force adept,” Ben continued.  “I’d know if you were.”

   “What’s Force adept?”  Etan asked, clearly confused.

   “What my padawan means is that you haven’t been trained to use the Force,” Luke explains.

   “Oh.  Also true.”

   “My padawan knows that there are many beings that can connect with the Force.  Not all of them are Jedi.  He knows the Force belongs to all.”  Luke shot a stern look at his nephew as he spoke. 

   Ben looked at his boots. 

   Luke felt a quick throb of resentment through their bond, followed quickly by regret.  Luke sent back reassurance to Ben, letting him know that his teacher wasn’t really angry with him.

   If Etan sensed any of this she was too polite to mention it.

   “Your padawan’s a smart young man, then,” was all she said. 

   Etan led them over to the kitchen area.  She poured them each a cup of tea and set out a plate of Dac-style flatbreads to go with it.  Ben took one and nibbled half-heartedly at the corner, his dark hair falling into his eyes.

   Luke decided a change in subject was overdue.  He glanced around him again.

   “You’ve come up in the world a bit since last we met, Etan,” he joked.

   “This?  Oh, I wish it was my house! It belongs to Gaza Tol, the Dac shipbuilder I used to apprentice with.  He’s out in Crystal Reef: one of his daughters just had her second baby.  He knows how much Rey likes the gardens, so he invited us to stay while he’s gone.”

   “It’s a beautiful place.”

   “Yes, Gaza designed it himself.  There’s nothing that he can’t design.  Back before he retired his shipyards used to have a waiting list of over a year for one of his custom builds.  Yachts, mostly, but he also did a lot of work for the Dac navy back in the day.”

   “And he taught you everything he knows?”  Luke speculated.

   Etan smiled modestly.  “Most of it.  He has two daughters and a son roughly my age, but none of them were interested in engineering.  I guess I was the next best thing.”

    “Isn’t he angry that none of his children wanted to follow in his footsteps?”  Ben asked around a mouthful of flatbread.

   Etan shook her head. “No.  Oh, I’m sure he was disappointed at first: I think he couldn’t help that.  But like all parents what ultimately mattered was that his children were happy and healthy.  And they all are.  And that in turn makes Gaza happy.”

   Ben made a slight face, indicating his skepticism. 

   Luke sighed.  He knew Ben often felt the outsized expectations that came with being both a Skywalker and a Solo pressing down on his young shoulders. 

   Ben still insisted he wanted to be a Jedi.  If that was what Ben wanted, then that was what Luke wanted, too.

   After all, a Jedi was no greater than the Jedi who instructed him. 

   And yet…

_And yet hadn’t Obi-Wan Kenobi instructed the man who became Darth Vader?_

   Luke pushed those unworthy thoughts away from himself.  Doubting Ben wasn’t fair to the boy.     

   “Mama!  Mama, come see!”  A strong little voice called from the garden.  “Come see!”

   Etan stood with a smile.  “I’m being summoned.  Why don’t you come with me and meet Rey, Ben?”

   Ben glanced uncertainly over at Luke.  Luke nodded.

   “She is, after all, the whole reason we’re here,” he told his nephew.

    The went through the open doors into the walled garden.  It was open to the sky so the planet’s natural rainfall could nourish the life within.  Paths of rock and crushed seashells meandered between beds full of hearty native plants.  Benches provided comfortable spots to sit and rest, and a water feature bubbled in the center of the space.  Every few feet windows cut into the garden walls provided yet another view of the ocean.

   Rey, now grown into a chubby little girl, was sitting at the foot of the fountain, dolls and toys scattered around her. 

   The child had just been able to walk when Luke had last seen her.  But now she was able to jump to her feet and rush on strong little legs to grab at her mother’s skirts.  She pulled her mother back over to the fountain, chattering about something and pointing to her toys.

   Luke gently nudged Ben forward.    

   In the days of the Old Republic the Jedi had had knights dedicated just to seeking out potential candidates for the Order.  They had fanned out across the universe, locating and testing Force sensitive infants and then encouraging parents to send them to one of the Temples for training.  As far as Luke knew, this was how Qui-Gon Jinn, Yoda, and Obi-Wan Kenobi had all been found.

   Well, maybe not Yoda.  Luke still had a hard time picturing the old master as ever having been an infant.

   Now, of course, that constant search wasn’t possible. 

   For one thing Luke didn’t have time to scour the worlds for Force-sensitives when he was barely keeping the Order running as it was. 

   For another, it seemed as if very few Force-sensitives were being born nowadays.  In his darker moments Luke often wondered if, after seeing the Jedi nearly wiped out twice, the Force had decided there should just be fewer of them. 

   It had taken Luke more than ten years to assemble the dozen students he was currently training, and most had either sought him out or been found quite by accident.

   Ben approached the little girl cautiously. 

   “Rey, this is Ben,” her mother told her.  “Say hello.”

   Rey looked up at the tall boy and gave him a wide smile, her hazel eyes bright.  “Hi!”

   “Hi,” Ben said back.

   “Come play,” Rey demanded, holding out one of her stuffed toys.

   “Uh…”  Ben looked back at his Master.  Luke nodded, and the young man reluctantly knelt down on the pathway next to the little girl.  Soon they were murmuring to each other, Rey asking questions in her baby voice, and Ben answering them in his cracking teenage one.

   Etan went to stand next to Luke as he observed the pair.

   “When you asked if you could bring your padawan with you this time I wasn’t sure why,” Etan confessed.  “But I get it now.  You wanted him to meet her.”

   Luke nodded. 

   “Ben’s never been around a Force-sensitive this young before.  None of my students have.  He loves history: in fact, he’s become something of an expert on the Jedi of the Old Republic and their ways.  So I thought it might be good for him to have an experience they would have had.  I read once that the older padawans were always expected to help with the younglings, whether they wanted to or not.”

   Etan laughed.  “I suspect they often didn’t want to.  I never had any brothers or sisters but I saw enough sibling rivalry between Gaza’s three kids to know how it works.”

   “I think it would have been good for them,” Luke observed.  “What better way to teach patience and compassion than taking care of a small child?”

   “Indeed.”  Etan sighed deeply as she gazed at her daughter.

   Luke felt her mood shift.  “What is it?”

   “Oh, nothing.  It’s just the older Rey gets the more she looks like her father.  Sometimes I can’t believe it’s been almost three years since Cass died.  I tell her stories about him, you know.  I know she’s too young to remember them yet, but it makes _me_ feel better.”  Etan blushed prettily.  “Does that sound crazy?”

   “Not at all.  I started telling Ben stories about Obi-Wan and Yoda before he could crawl.  That’s how we remember those we love.  Through our stories.”

   “I suppose you’re right.”

   “Mama, look!”  Rey’s excited cry drew their attention.

   Ben was showing off for her, lifting small stones in the air.  They spun in a lazy circle over the boy’s right palm.

   Ben glanced over at his master.  “She’s very Force strong, this one,” he admitted.  “But she’s so little!”

   “She’ll grow,” Luke told him.  “You did.”

   “Again, again!”  Rey cried to Ben when the stones slowed their loops.  “Again!”

   “Why don’t you stack them for her,” Luke suggested.

   Ben rolled his eyes as only a near-thirteen-year-old could.  “She won’t get it.  She’s just a baby.”

   “Just try.  Rey might surprise you,” his uncle told him.

   So Ben began a series of Force exercises Luke had devised.  In real training Ben would have used much larger stones, but the fist-sized ones in the garden served for the time being.  Using just his mind Ben shifted them out of the garden beds and then stacked and re-stacked them in an array of different configurations.

      The padawan and the youngling played this way for the next half an hour.  Rey squealed each time a stone moved, as if it was the most exciting thing she’d ever seen.  Even Etan applauded.

   Through the Force Luke could feel something he rarely felt these days: Ben was feeling proud.  It made the Jedi Master smile.

  Soon, however, he could feel Ben’s mind starting to wander.  The stones weren’t heavy enough to require his total focus.  Luke decided to change the game a bit.

   “Ben, set them down in front of her now.  I want to see what she does.”

   Ben laughed.  “Master, you don’t actually think she can move them, do you?” 

   “Rey is strong in the Force, young padawan.  I know you can feel that.  She’s almost as strong as you were at her age.  Let her try,” Luke counseled.

   Ben huffed skeptically, but obeyed his master.   The small rocks settled into a neat row in front of the little girl.

   Rey frowned.  “Again!”  She demanded of Ben.  “Again!”

   “Nope, can’t.  Jedi orders,” Ben told her with a smirk.  “You do it.  If you can.”

   “Mama!”  Rey looked to her mother, pointing an accusing finger at the boy.  “Make boy do it!”

   “No, I’m not going to make Master Solo do anything,” Etan told her daughter.  “He would like you to try.”

   Rey scowled deeply.  She shoved angrily at a rock with her fist.

   “See?  Told you,” Ben said to Luke.

   “Patience,” Luke told him.  “Just watch.”

   Ben leaned back on his elbows.  “This is stupid,” he grumbled under his breath.  Luke pretended not to hear him. 

   Minutes ticked by.  Ben, clearly bored, stared up at the blue expanse overhead.  Etan sat down on one of the benches.

   But Luke knew it would happen.

   Rey held out her little hands.  And one rock rose off the ground.

   “There, you see?”  Luke said proudly.  “Very good, little one!”

   Ben sat up straight, his mouth comically open.

   Another rock rose.  Then a third.

   “You’re helping her!”  Ben said to his Master, suspicion radiating from his young body like a heatwave.

   “You can feel that I’m not,” Luke said mildly.

   Rey was laughing now, impressed with her own abilities.  She manipulated the three rocks until they landed in a lop-sided, but clearly intentionally stacked, pile. 

   “See?!  See?!”  She shouted to the sky.  Her joy radiated all around them, shimmering and clear.

   Before Luke could catch his intent Ben flicked out a thumb and knocked over the rocks.

   “Ben!”  Luke scolded, genuinely surprised his student could be so petty.  “Apologize!”

   “Look at her, Master: she doesn’t care,” Ben said indifferently.

   “Ben.  Apologize.”  Luke demanded in his flattest, most Jedi Master tone.

   “Fine.  Sorry, kid.  It was an accident.”

   Rey was having none of his apology.  She now stuck her hands on her non-existent hips.  “Naughty!”  She told Ben loudly.  “Naughty boy!”

   Luke heard Etan stifle a chuckle.

   “Yes, Rey, Ben was very naughty,” Luke told the little girl.  He made sure she could feel his approval and pride at what she had accomplished through the Force.

   “So does this mean she’s going to start levitating things all the time?”  Etan asked Luke with a smile.  “Because I think that’s going to raise some eyebrows when she starts preschool.”

* * *

 

   Luke and Ben passed a few more hours with the two Darklighters.  Ben was sulking after being publicly reprimanded by his uncle.  But Luke refused to have the pleasure of his visit cut short.

   They departed in early afternoon as it was time for Rey to nap.  Luke thanked Etan for her hospitality, and Ben did the same—without Luke’s prompting, for once.

   When they were back outside and on their way to the shuttle Ben spoke up again.

   “Master, the child is not just Force-sensitive, she’s already Force-adept.  Why aren’t we taking her with us now?  She belongs at the Temple.”

   “Her mother and I had this discussion once before,” Luke told Ben.  “She and I decided she was too little.”

   “Teah-Ho is little,” Ben argued, naming the youngest student at the Academy.

   “Teah-Ho is nine,” Luke corrected.  “There’s a vast difference between nine and two.”

   “She belongs with us,” Ben insisted.  “If the mother’s the problem, why don’t we take her, too?  She’s Force sensitive: she might prove useful.”

   Luke stopped in his tracks and raised an eyebrow. 

   “’Useful?’”  He echoed, making sure Ben could feel the chill of disapproval in the Force.

   “Helpful.  I meant to say ‘helpful,’ Master.”  Ben amended.

   “I’m sure you did.  No, Ben, it’s already been agreed.  Rey will only come to the Temple when she’s old enough and if she wants to be trained as a Jedi.  Not before.”

   “You’re wrong, Master.”

   Luke froze.  “I’m sorry?”

   Ben stood his ground, pushing the hair his mother couldn’t convince him to cut out of his eyes again.  “No, I’m sorry, Master, but I think you’re wrong.  We should take both of them now.  It’s what they would have done in the Old Republic.”

   “We’re no longer in the days of the Old Republic,” Luke told his nephew, his mouth compressed into a firm line as he struggled to contain his anger.  He’d known the day Ben openly defied him would come, as it did in all master-padawan relationships.

   But Luke suddenly found he wasn’t quite ready for it.  And over Rey Darklighter, of all things!

   “Ben, you and I are allowed to have a difference of opinion on this matter.”  Luke got his anger under control as he spoke.  “But I am your Master.  You must abide by my decisions in all things. That is the Jedi way.  Is that understood?”

   Ben continued to frown.

   “I said, is that understood, young padawan?”

   Ben looked down at his boots again.  “Yes, Master.  I understand.”

   Luke let out a breath he hadn’t realized he’d been holding.

   “Good.  We’ll speak of this again.  But for now let’s get to the shuttle.  I promised Lor we’d be back at the temple by tomorrow at the latest.  Come along.”

   Luke walked resolutely back towards the station, Ben trailing in his wake.

   _Oh, Obi-Wan_ , Luke thought to himself.  _Where are you when I need you?_

    

 

 


	5. Seventeen years ago

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ben is missing. War comes to Dac. Lando Calrissian and the Knights of Ren make cameo appearances.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Author’s note: This chapter contains speculation about Han and Leia’s relationship, and about Luke’s lack of a personal life. I’m working somewhat within the EU framework so for the sake of this fic Luke just happens to be heteroromantic. But also voluntarily celibate because he's trying to be a good Jedi. I don’t write lemons (because I suck at them, no pun intended), but if you were curious now you know.

Seventeen years ago…

 

   “I’m telling you, you’re all worrying about nothing,” Lando Calrissian said loudly, his arms folded across his chest.

   “I don’t think they’re listening,” Luke Skywalker told him.

   Sure enough, Han and Leia were too busy yelling at each other on the other side of the room to respond.  Han towered over his tiny wife.  She was leaning towards him, a finger pointed at his face.

   Luke had tuned them out.  It was all the usual accusations they’d been hurtling at each other since Ben had left them: who was at fault, and who was refusing to handle the situation at hand appropriately.

   Since the day they had first met, Han and Leia had sparked together like fuel and fire.  Luke had always been somewhat in awe of their passion for each other.

   But with passion, any Jedi knew, came a whole host of darker emotions: lust, anger, jealousy, fear of loss…

   Not long after the battle of Yavin Luke had made the conscious decision to stay celibate and unmarried in order to devote all of his energies to rebuilding the Order.  He’d known in his heart that he’d never be able to divide his attention between the Jedi and a lover without one relationship or the other suffering.

   Luke simply had been unable to imagine having a wife, let alone a child, without putting them at the very center of his universe.  He was self-aware enough to know he would willingly sacrifice anything for his wife or his child.

   Anakin Skywalker had felt the same way.  And the universe had bled for it, _still_ bled for it.  Every day.

   But just because Luke had chosen not to marry didn’t mean he didn’t understand how tough marriage could be. 

   Quite the contrary, in fact.  After all, for almost twenty years now he’d been witness to the myriad ways in which Han and Leia could turn their passion for each other into rage, sometimes over the most minor of events. 

   He’d never seen two people argue the way Han and Leia did.  It never became physically violent: if it had Luke would have intervened long ago.  The fights were just sharp words and pointed accusations. 

   They were still devastating to witness.

   Han always knew just what to say to hurt Leia.  Leia always knew just what to say to hurt Han.

   Usually such arguments ended with Han storming off in the _Falcon_ , disappearing for weeks until his temper cooled while Leia stomped around cursing her husband’s very existence.

   Eventually they would be drawn back together as inexorably as two planets in orbit around the same sun.  Each would apologize to the other, and peace would reign again.  For a time.

   Growing up, Ben had regularly witnessed the two people he loved most in the world tear into each other’s emotions with the ferocity of rancors.  Luke had never really thought about the impact this must have had on the boy. 

 _And now it might be too late…_ The voice in Luke’s head whispered to him.

   While Luke had been contemplating the situation at hand, Lando had continued to try to get the quarreling couple’s attention.

   “Guys?” Lando now said loudly.  “Guys!”

   “What?!?”  Han and Leia spoke simultaneously, both turning to look at their old friend with fire in their eyes.

   “I was just saying,” Lando said soothingly, “that I think you’re both getting way too worked up.  If I had a credit for every time I took off at Ben’s age I’d be a rich man.”

   Han threw up his hands in frustration. 

    “Is that so?” Leia stalked over to Lando. 

   “Six months, Lando!  My thirteen-year-old son has been missing for six months, and neither you, or his _Jedi master_ uncle, or his nerf herder of a father over there, have had any luck finding him!  How _dare_ you tell me not to worry!”

   Leia scowled up at Lando. 

   “ _Your_ kid hasn’t even been born yet!” She told him angrily.  “When _your_ teenage son or daughter disappears, that’s when you can come back here and tell _me_ how I should feel about it.  Not before!”

   Luke could feel the pain and rage and fear radiating from his sister. 

   He rubbed a hand over his bristly chin.  He’d finally broken down and decided to follow Jedi tradition by growing a beard.  Luke had visualized something like old Ben’s full but neatly groomed one. 

    So far, though, Luke’s was coming in patchy. It also itched. 

   “I keep telling you, the kid will come back when he’s had some time to think,” Han argued to his wife.  “You know as well as I do what he was like those last few months!  Us hunting him down isn’t going to do any good.  It’s probably only going to make him run farther!”

   “Our son needs us!”  Leia told him.  “No matter how angry he might be, he’s still a child and we’re still his parents!”

   “Leia, Ben is either shielding himself from the Force, or he’s being shielded,” Luke told her.  Luke felt like a broken holovid lately, saying the same things over and over.  “If I haven’t been able to find him, no one can.”

   “And who the kriff would be powerful enough to shield a boy from _you_?”  Leia demanded, as she always did when Luke brought this up.

   Luke looked at his boots.  “I don’t know, Leia.  I wish I did.  You know I’d do anything to bring Ben back here if I could.  I can’t.”

   His twin’s eyes had begun to fill with tears.  She swiped at them with the back of one hand. 

   “I don’t want your apologies,” Leia told him.  “I want my son.  I never should have sent him away!  I thought Ben _wanted_ to study at the Academy, I thought that’s what would finally make him happy, finally help him find peace!”

   “You didn’t make the call on your own,” Han reminded her gruffly, laying a gentle hand on her shoulder.  “I thought it was best for him, too.  And he _did_ seem happier, at least for a little while…”

   Luke cleared his throat. 

   “Lando, let’s you and I go find Chewie.  It wouldn’t hurt to check with your contacts in the Outer Rim again, right?”  Luke said.

   Lando nodded solemnly.  “Yeah, no, it wouldn’t.”  He glanced over at Han and Leia.  “Let me work my connections again.”  He smiled.  “And, hey, you two need anything, you just call me and Tendra, ok?  We’re here for you.  Always.”

   Han had his arm around his wife.  “Yeah, thanks, Lando.  We appreciate it.”

   “General Organa-Solo!  General Organa-Solo!”  C3PO came tottering into the room as fast as his metal legs could carry him, R2D2 on his heels.  “You must come at once!”

   Leia quickly pulled away from her husband’s embrace.   

   “3PO, what is it?  What’s wrong?  Is it Ben?”

   “No, there’s no news about Master Ben, I’m afraid, General.  But you must come to the command center immediately.  We’ve received multiple distress calls.  Dac is under attack!”

* * *

 

   “If you’d told me when I woke up this morning I was going to need a blaster,” Etan Darklighter yelled over the sound of TIE fighters screaming overhead, “I would have said you were crazy!”

   She and half a dozen Mon Calamari were crouched down behind a storage container at the edge of the shipyards. 

   All around them spaceships—barely framed, nearly completed, or under repair—burned, sending plumes of acrid black smoke into the sky.

   The attack had come out of nowhere. 

   One moment the famous blue skies of Dac had been clear and empty.  The next almost a dozen warships had descended on Coral City.  They’d disgorged troop carriers and underwater droids, and the attack was underway before the citizens had had time to realize what was happening.

   “The First Order isn’t supposed to have this kind of capability!”  An engineer named Wharta cried out to no one in particular as they huddled together.  “They only attack outlying star systems!”

   “Be sure to tell them that when they capture us!”  Etan retorted.

   “Everyone calm down,” Gaza Tol ordered them.  The elderly but spry shipbuilder was there entirely by chance.  His former apprentice has been showing off the newest builds when the First Order fleet had arrived.

   Now the old Mon Calamari stood tall.  “We need a plan.  One that doesn’t require any blasters.  Suggestions?”

   “We make for the water,” one young Mon suggested.

   “They’ve already got underwater droids attacking down there, too: can’t you feel it?”  Another responded.

   Sure enough the floating city seemed to be shuddering, a sure sign the part of Coral City below the waterline was in every bit as much danger as the part above it.

   “We get to the civilian port,” Etan suggested.  “It’s mid-city and those starships can’t descend any lower into the atmosphere than they are now.  It looks like their ground troops will be tied up here for a while.  So we may be able to beat the First Order there if we go on foot.”

   “You’re saying we run?”  Wharta demanded.  “Like cowards?”

   “We stay alive,” she responded.  “The defense beacons should have alerted the Republic by now that we’re under attack but there’s no way they’re going to get here in time!”

   “The First Order is trying to materially damage the Republic’s naval and air capacity,” Tol explained.  He glanced over his shoulder at the carnage behind him.  “And they’re succeeding.  I think we should go with Etan’s plan.  All of you, if you can, find your loved ones and get to the port.  The Mon must live to fight another day.”

   They managed to make their way off what was left of the docks and into the city streets.  They were full of screaming, scrambling humanoids: Mon, Quarren, human, and more. 

   So far the Stormtroopers hadn’t made it into the city proper.  But the fighters overhead were firing seemingly at random, determined, no doubt, to create as much fear and panic as possible.

   “Did you get Sarita on the commlink?”  Etan hollered to Tol as they ran.

   “I told her to grab her sister, Quina, and the children and meet us there,” Gaza yelled back.  “She should be on her way!”

   Etan said a silent prayer to whomever might be listening that Rey was safe.  She’d left her daughter in the care of Sarita Tol Asul, Gaza’s oldest daughter, for the afternoon.

   “Sarita’s smart!”  Etan said loudly, more to reassure herself than anything else.  “She’ll get Rey, Quina, and the babies there!”

   “Watch out!”  Tol grabbed Etan by the sleeve as a chunk of duracrete fell from the sky.

   “What good will this planet be to the First Order if we’re all dead?!”  Etan cried as they dove out of the way.

   “It will be one less planet that speaks out against them in the Senate!” Tol replied.  ”Senator Jesmin Ackbar’s been one of their most vocal opponents there!  With this one act they’ve crippled the Republic and they’ve punished Dac!”

   Etan slipped on yet another piece of debris and fell to her knees.  Tol had her by the elbow, trying to pull her back to her feet, when she felt it.

   Darkness roiled into the street like smoke.  It was in her, and outside her, and far worse than the stench of blood and burning metal. 

   It was fear, and it was hate, and it was rage.  And it was _alive_.

   Etan felt gorge rise in the back of her throat.  Every nerve in her body seemed to scream, every hair to stand on end.

   Tol was speaking to her, yelling at her, but she couldn’t seem to hear him.

   “What is that?  Can’t you feel that?”  She cried, her eyes stinging.  “Can’t you feel that, Gaza?”

   She looked over her shoulder.

   Masked, black-clad figures, five of them, had appeared at the end of the street.  As clearly as if she was standing next to them Etan could hear the _snap-hiss_ of their lightsabers igniting.

  It was a sound she recognized in her very bones, and one that she would remember until the day she died.

   They were cutting people to pieces.  Anyone in their way, anyone who tried to stand before them, were cut down where they stood.

   And they were happy about it.  The horrible, screeching Darkness was _happy_.

   _More death_ , it said. 

   Etan was sure of it: the faceless, mouthless Darkness was speaking.  She didn’t know why she could hear it when none of the frightened people around her could. 

   _More death_.

   They were getting closer.  Still she could not move.

_Kill them all._

_No!_

   The scream was only inside her head.  She made no actual sound.  But scream she did.

   Etan didn’t think the monsters in black would possibly hear her over the cries of their victims.

   But one did.  Its head whipped around, and it looked right at her.

   The mask hid the eyes.  But still it looked.

   _Who are you_?  The Darkness whispered in her ear.  It sounded curious, almost…caressing.

_Who are you?_

   Then a different voice spoke.  This one was warm and human and somehow familiar.

 _Run, Etan,_ it said.  _Run_.

   Suddenly the trance that held her seemed to break.  Etan stumbled to her feet, pulling Gaza after her.

   They ran.

* * *

 

    “After we get Leia to Coruscant Chewie and I will meet you on Gus Talon,” Han told Luke as they hurried across the hanger.  All around them fighters were scrambling, but with strict orders not to directly engage First Order forces if they didn’t have to do so.  Without a formal declaration of war there could be no military response from the Republic.

   “You really think Leia can get the Senate to act this time?”  Luke asked skeptically.  “They’ve always ignored the First Order before.”

   “The First Order never attacked a target this big,” Han said with a shrug.  “Until now they’ve just been one of half a dozen breakaways from the Empire making trouble for us.  But if anyone can get the Senate to move against them, Leia can.  Take care of yourself, Luke.”

   Luke nodded.  “You, too.” 

   He stood back, cloak wrapped securely around his body, and watched as the _Falcon_ took off.

    He’d resigned his commission years ago, but that hadn’t stopped his sister from giving him a job to do.  In the hours since the attack had begun reports were now coming in of refugee ships escaping Dac.  The Republic had already sent out a warning to other Mon ships not to approach the planet. 

   An attack might not have been an option, but as a Republican general Leia still had the authority to decide how the military might help on humanitarian grounds.  She’d issued the order that anyone in need of safe harbor from the attack could use the old Rebel base on the moon of Gus Talon in the Corellian system. 

   They were broadcasting that information across the galaxy, trying to reach as many refugees as they could.  Luke was on his way to the moon now with a dozen members of Leia’s support staff to see what, if anything, they could do to help. 

   Luke had seen this more often that he cared to remember: men, women, and children torn from their home planets by war, often with nothing more than the clothes on their backs.

   He hadn’t said a word to anyone about his private worries for Etan and Rey.  Etan wasn’t answering her commlink, but that was only to be expected under the circumstances. 

   He hadn’t seen either of them in nearly a year.  Still, Luke was certain he would know if they were hurt or in imminent danger. 

   “Master Luke, all the food and medical supplies that could be spared are on board your shuttle,” 3PO told him as he tottered across the large space to Luke’s side.  “General Solo has already contacted the authorities on his home planet and they stand by ready to provide any additional assistance needed.”

   “Good, 3PO.  Tell the other shuttles they can leave as soon as they’re ready.  You and R2 get on board and we’ll get going.”

   “Yes, Master Luke.”

   “Luke?”  Another voice called.

   He glanced up.

   “Tendra, what is it?”

   Lando Calrissian’s very, very pregnant wife approached him, her husband hovering at her elbow.  Even at eight months along, Tendra Calrissian was radiantly beautiful, her hair carefully coiffed and her clothes the height of Republic fashion.

   When he’d decided he wanted to marry, Lando, good-natured ex-mercenary that he was, had deliberately sought out the wealthiest women in the galaxy to find a potential wife.  His friends had been surprised when heiress Tendra Risant had accepted his proposal. 

   They’d been even more surprised when the marriage had turned into a genuine love match.  But then, the Force always did move in strange ways.

   Tendra now pressed a stack of Republic credits into Luke’s palm. 

   “Lando told me what’s happening.  We want to help,” she said simply.  “Use this to buy anything those poor people might need.”

   “And don’t say it isn’t necessary,” Lando said before Luke could speak.  “Those Corellians may be willing to help out of the goodness of their hearts, but nothing makes help come faster than cold, hard cash.”

   Luke nodded, tucking the small fortune into his cloak.  “Thank you both.”

   “I’ve messaged my family’s bank on Sacorria,” Tendra added.  “If you need more money just send them word.”

   “As always, you’re too generous, Tendra,” Luke said with a smile.  “The Republic is in your debt.”

   “So what else is new?  Now get going, Jedi.” Lando laughed.  “Go save the world again.”

   Luke quickly embraced his friends.  “Thank you.  May the Force be with you both.”

   He hurried up the ramp of his borrowed shuttle and into the cockpit.  R2 had already warmed the engines.

   “Strapped in, 3PO?”  He called over his shoulder.

   “I am indeed, Master Luke,” the droid called from the cramped passenger area. 

   “Good.”  Luke glanced over at the chubby little astromech droid. “R2, set a course for the Corellian system.”   

   R2 beeped his agreement.  Luke opened the throttle, enjoying the small thrill he still got every time a spacecraft he piloted lifted off into the darkness of space.

   When he’d been younger it had been the thrill of adventure, of places and people unknown, that had attracted him to being a pilot.  That he’d turned out to be really good at it had just been an added bonus. 

   Now, with middle age rapidly approaching, the thrill was milder but no less real.

* * *

 

   The original Rebel base on Gus Talon had been bombed into oblivion during the war.  It had since been rebuilt using New Republic funds.  The hangers and bunkers there now were still so new their metal walls gleamed.  A small defense force made up mainly of Corellians were the only permanent residents there.

   In response to the tragedy on Dac, however, the base now swarmed with people: Leia’s staffers, who were organizing food and beds for the refugees; politicians from nearby planets, eager to help and to be seen helping; and beings from all over the galaxy who had either fled the violence or who were looking for friends and family who had.  More than three dozen ships had arrived.  More were on the way.

   Luke, with 3PO toddling after him, quickly gave up trying to find Etan in the chaos.  Instead he quieted his mind and reached out through the Force. 

   He’d sensed her before on numerous occasions, but he’d never actually reached out to her before. 

   He probably should have warned her.  When he at last brushed her mind he could feel her heart leap in terror.

   Her mind pushed back at his, hard.  The sensation was almost enough to make him stagger on his feet.

   _Easy, Etan,_ he told her.  _Sorry I startled you_.

   A moment later her mind came back to him.

_Skywalker, is that you?  What in the Republic’s sake was that!?!_

_I know you’re here but I can’t find you.  This is another way of looking._

_Well, warn somebody before you do that!  I thought…_

   Luke felt her fear again.  It puzzled him.

   _What is it?  Is Rey all right?_   He asked silently.

_Yeah, she’s right here; she’s fine.  She and the other kids are asleep.  It’s been a long trip._

     In Luke’s mind he saw Rey, bigger now than when he’d last seen her.  Luke knew he was seeing the child through her mother’s eyes.

   Rey was curled up in a pile of blankets on the floor of a gleaming shuttle.  Three young Mon were napping beside her.  Snuggled together as they were the foursome looked for all the world like a nest of bantha pups.

 _I’m standing on the landing ramp of a silver shuttle.  Mon design.  It’ll be the newest one here,_ Etan told him.

   Luke scanned the hanger with his eyes, at last seeing the young woman on her toes. peering out over the heads of the crowd.  She was wearing coveralls, and her face was smudged with soot. 

   She’d never been a more welcome sight.

   “Etan, what’s…” he began as he reached her, only to stop talking when she quickly held up a hand.

   Two Mon females had come to stand behind her.  Like Etan, both looked rumpled and exhausted. 

  “Luke, this is Sarita Tol Asul and Quina Tol Bexar.  Gaza’s daughters.  They were watching Rey for me when the attack started.  Gaza insisted we take his shuttle.”

   “Father wouldn’t leave,” the older of the two (Sarita, Luke guessed) told him.  Her bulbous eyes filled with tears.  “He said Etan’s a better pilot than he is, anyway.  Stubborn old man,” she said affectionately.

   Etan placed a gentle arm around her friend’s daughter, reassuring her in low tones than her father would be all right.

   “Our husbands stayed behind as well,” Quina said softly.  “Most of the male Mon and Quarren did.  Is the Republic sending reinforcements to help them?”

   “There’s going to be a special session of the Senate starting in a few moments,” Luke told her.  “There are monitors set up on the other side of the hanger if you want to watch the news feeds.  In the meantime, base staff has started putting together a list of everyone here to help friends and neighbors find each other.  They’re also,” he smiled gently, ”brewing gallons of caf if you need some.  There should be soup, too.”

   The three females exchanged looks. 

   “You two go and get something to drink,” Etan told them.  “I’ll stay here with the kids.”

   “Are you sure?”  Quina asked her.  “You’ve been up as long as we have, and you’ve been doing all the flying.”

   “I’m sure.  Senator Ackbar is sure to be the first to speak and you don’t want to miss that.”

   “She’s already made a statement to the press,” Luke corroborated.  “She’s calling for a full military strike against the First Order to liberate Dac.”

  “Go,” Etan urged.  “You can fill me in later.”

   Luke sent C3PO to accompany the two females across the crowded hanger.  Most of the refugees were moving in the same direction, in search of nourishment and news from home.

     Etan sat down on the edge of the ramp with a heavy sigh.  Luke sat down next to her.  They were both silent for a long moment.

   “I’m glad you’re both ok,” Luke admitted.  “When I couldn’t raise you on your comm…”

   “I lost it somewhere in the mad scramble to get under cover,” Etan admitted.  She regarded him steadily for a moment.  “I have to say I don’t care for the beard.  It makes you look… I don’t know.  Sad, maybe?”

   Luke laughed softly.  He glanced over his shoulder up the ramp to the dimly lit interior of the custom-built craft.  The noise and anxiety of the hanger hadn’t affected any of the sleeping kids.  Luke could feel the security and peace radiating from their sleeping minds.

   “It always amazes me what children can sleep through,” he admitted.

   Etan chuckled dryly.  “Sarita’s boy Tolma is only a bit older than Rey, and Quina’s daughters are both younger.  They don’t understand what’s really going on.  We’ve been telling them it’s an adventure.”

   “I’m amazed the First Order let you escape.”

   “I don’t think all the ships did escape,” the woman admitted. “Those of us that did made the jump to hyperspace as soon as we hit the upper atmosphere.”

   “That’s an old smuggler’s trick.”

   “I know.  Cass taught it to me a long time ago.  Either the First Order wasn’t expecting that, or they just didn’t care enough to pursue us.” 

   Etan rubbed her eyes.  “I know it’s a cliché to say this, but they really did come out of nowhere.  Gaza said he thought the attack was retaliation for what Jesmin Ackbar’s been saying about the First Order in the Senate—that they’re a menace, that they need to be taken down.  But…” she trailed off.

   Luke could feel her fear again, resonating through the Force.  He’d seen Etan angry, and hurt, and worried before, but not afraid. Never afraid.

   “You saw something.”  It was a statement, not a question.

   “Saw.  Felt.”  She shook her head.  “I can’t explain.”  She gazed out over the crowd.  “I’m not sure it even makes sense to me,” she admitted.

   “Etan, if it’s troubling you this much, maybe I can help.  Please tell me.  Or you can show me, if that would be easier.”

   She raised an eyebrow.  “’Show you’?  Through that…whatever it was, earlier?”

   “I communicated with you through the Force.  And you communicated back.”

   “Huh.  More Jedi stuff?”

   “’Force sensitive’ stuff, anyway.  Like you, my sister Leia can do it, and she’s not a Jedi, either. In fact, she’s never shoved me out quite the way you did.  That was impressive.  You probably get that from Obi-Wan.”

  She frowned at him.

  “He was really, really good at Jedi mind tricks,” Luke clarified.  “Of course the Jedi Order had very clear rules about when it was appropriate to use them and when it wasn’t.”

   “When I first heard you inside of my head I thought you were…”  She bit her lip.  “And whatever it…was wasn’t talking to me directly, not at first.  But I heard it.  And I heard the other voice, too.  That one did speak to me directly.  It told me to run.”

_Run, Etan.  Run._

   Luke couldn’t help but smile as he heard it echo through Force.  He knew that voice.  Warm.  Firm.  Loving. 

   He was careful not to say the name.  Etan had already been through enough in once day without knowing that her deceased father was still capable of speaking to her.  That would definitely need to be a conversation for another day.

  “ _That_ voice didn’t scare me,” Etan admitted.  “ _That_ one was trying to help, I just knew it.  But the other one…it…it was a monster.”

   “’A monster’?  Luke echoed.

   In response Etan held out a hand.  “I don’t want to talk about it.  But I’ll try to show you, if I can.”

   “You can,” Luke said encouragingly.  “Just breathe, and focus.  Let me see what you saw.”

   Her hand was cool and dry as he pressed it between his own.  In a moment he had slipped inside her mind.

   He could feel her struggling not to push him out as she had before.  He reassured her through their Force bond, letting her know that she could reject him any time she needed to do so. 

   This calmed her a bit.  As her mind opened Luke could see the chaos of the attack.  He could feel her heart pounding as she ran down the street, her steely determination to get to her daughter no matter what the cost.

   He saw the black-robed creatures appear, heard the snap-hiss of their lightsabers igniting.

   _Knights of Ren,_ he told Etan through their connection.  _Dark force wielders who work for the First Order._

 _Is that what this feeling is, then?  The Dark Side?_ She asked.

   Luke could feel it inside his head just as she had.  The hate.  The savagery.  The urge to destroy.  He could still hear it echoing through the Force even though hours had passed since the actual events he was witnessing had occurred.

_More death.  Kill them all._

   _Yes, it is,_ he told Etan.  _There have been rumors the First Order is using the Dark Side to help them.  But this is…_

_Who are you?_

   Luke stiffened as he heard the slithering voice from Etan’s memory.

_Snoke._

   Luke quickly withdrew from his friend’s mind.  A moment later she opened her eyes to gaze up at him.

   “Who’s Snoke?”  she asked.

   Luke shook his head to clear it.  This development was…unanticipated.

   “Our intelligence suggests he’s the one who is training the Knights of Ren,” Luke admitted.  “But as to who he really is, or how he learned the ways of the Dark Side…those are questions we haven’t been able to answer yet.”

   Luke looked down at where their hands were still joined. 

   “Etan, this is very bad.  When you cried out through the Force that marked you out as a sensitive.  The Knights of Ren heard you.  Which likely means Snoke heard you.”

   She squeezed both his human hand and his metal one anxiously.  “But it’s not like he’d know who I am, right?  No one does, except you.  And no one but you knows about Rey.”

   Luke swallowed.  “That’s not precisely true.”

   Etan let go of him.  “What do you mean?  What is it you’re not telling me?”

   “I don’t know for sure.  I’ve been hoping I’m wrong for months now,” Luke said, more to himself than to her.

   “Skywalker,” she demanded.  “Tell me.”

   He looked into her clear blue eyes.  “Ben knows.”

   “Ben Solo?  Your padawan Ben?”

   “Yes.  He doesn’t know who your father was but he knows about you.  And he’s seen how strong Rey is in the Force.  Forgive me, Etan—I should have never brought him to the two of you…”

   “You’re not making any sense.  Where is Ben?  What’s happened to him?  And what does that have to do with Snoke?”

   Luke took a deep breath. 

   He’d never admitted this aloud, not to Han, or to his sister, or even to himself.  It was just a thought, a fear, but one that had been growing in the back of his mind for months.

   “I think Snoke has Ben.  And if that’s true, it may already be too late.”

   “For him?”

   “For all of us.”

     

       

  

  

   

 

 

 

    

 

 


	6. Sixteen Years Ago

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> How do you fight the Dark side when you're not a Jedi? How do you fight it when you are?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Author’s note: Hey, I’m back! I have a few weeks off for the holidays and, dammit, I’m going to finish this story! So, quick reminder of where we are: Luke Skywalker has tracked down, and now visits annually with, Obi Wan Kenobi’s daughter and granddaughter (Rey). For their own protection, Luke has kept their existence a secret from everyone else in the universe. But things are about to get grim for our heroes, I’m afraid, which is why I’ve been procrastinating like crazy on finishing this: I’ve become very fond of all these characters and I hate to destroy their lives. But to keep close to canon, destroy them I must. Apologizes in advance. All the usual warnings for this story continue to apply.

Sixteen Years Ago…

 

   Tension seems to radiate off the beings Luke passed as he walked down the crowded streets. 

   Sullust was not one of the more promising planets in the galaxy, at least not for humanoids.  The atmosphere was naturally toxic, barely breathable for a majority of species. 

   Undeterred, the two groups native to the planet, the Sullustans and the Bith, had instead carved out their societies underground in vast networks of artificially lit cities.  Air was pumped in through massive filtration systems. 

   Living underground, it was often hard to tell day from night on the planet, which made it all the easier for the massive SoroSuub Corporation to keep its design offices and manufacturing plants operating around the clock.  Although best known for its ships, SoroSubb produced all kinds of different machinery, tech, and consumer items as well.  Its products were known for being expensive, but of top quality.

   Over the decades the corporation had grown to encircle and dwarf the capital city of Byllurun, giving it its new nickname: SoroSuub Central.

   This particular time of day would be afternoon on any other planet.  There were certainly lots of individuals thronging the shops, restaurants, and bars.  But most were keeping a wary eye or eyes on the news monitors overhead.  The sound had been muted on most of them.

   The attack on Dac the year before had been a harbinger of things to come.  The First Order continued to grow like a canker, seizing control of some worlds outright and bullying others into allowing their presence on the ground, extracting resources and tribute as it went.    

   The Galactic Senate still refused to take any concrete action.  The majority of senators continued to insist that they could negotiate with the First Order.

   Luke knew that was a false hope.  He suspected most of the harried, worried creatures around him knew it, too, whether they were willing to admit it or not.

   He turned off into a narrow alley than gave way to a steep flight of stairs.  SoroSuub had claimed most the buildable flat land inside the planet, leaving the residences to climb the steep sides of the canyons. 

   At the top of the stairs there was a small landing before the stairs turned and traveled ever upward towards the surface.  To his right and to his left Luke saw just the same: thousands of small boxy homes stacked one on top of the other like building blocks.

   But the residents of Sullust had not completely given way to grim, corporate conformity: many of the walls were painted in bright colors; laundry hung from many of the railings; and a few of the heartiest souls had set out small window boxes of native plants that could tolerate the lack of sunlight and the recycled air.

   After a quick glance over his shoulder, he knocked at an ochre-colored door, and was admitted.

* * *

 

   “Skywalker.  I was starting to think I wouldn’t see you this year,” Etan Darklighter told him as she quickly closed the door behind him.

   “Didn’t you get my message?”

   “Um, yeah, I guess I did.”  The woman rubbed one hand over her face.  “But you didn’t give a day, so…”

   She paused, looking out the front window at the lights of the metropolis below.  Luke had the distinct feeling she was gazing beyond the city, at the universe itself.  Her voice was wry when she spoke again.

   “Things are falling apart out there, aren’t they.”

   It was a statement, not a question.

   “You still have reason to hope,” Luke counseled her.  “You have Rey.  Where is she, by the way?”

   Etan at last smiled.  “School.  For a few more hours yet.  She’s in the afternoon class.”

   The woman gestured for Luke to take a chair.  She sat on the settee opposite him. 

   “Rey loves school.  And you’ll be pleased to know so far she’s not showing off anything special in front of her classmates.  I told her in no uncertain terms all of _that_ was off-limits.”  Etan smiled again slightly.  “She loves having the other four-year-olds to play with.  And she’s got two teachers she’s crazy about, off-worlders, like me.  One is from Stewjohn and the other is from Coruscant.  So at least I know her pronunciation will be _im-peccable_.”  She drawled out the last word into nearly two syllables, Coruscanti-style.

   Luke laughed.  “Yeah, Leia can turn that Cosuscanti accent on and off like a faucet, particularly when she’s speaking in front of the Senate.”

   He gentled his smile.  “It’s good you were able to find work here.  But I’m sorry you haven’t been able to return to Dac.  I’m sure you’d rather Rey be in school there.”

   Etan shook her head.  Luke noticed there were dark circles around her eyes again, and her normally healthy complexion was wan.

    “Too many parts of Dac are still occupied.  Most of our friends don’t dare go back, either.  And after…after…”

   Etan stopped speaking and bit her lower lip instead.

   “Yes, you mentioned in your letters the nightmares you’ve been having.”

   “I’m sure I’m making a big deal out of nothing.”  The woman sighed again and folded her legs under her body where she sat.  “But I’m not sleeping more than a few hours a night, and I’m having trouble focusing at work.  I just wish it would all…stop.”  She shot him a pleading glance.  “You can understand that, can’t you?”   

   “Dreams are powerful things, Etan.  The Jedi believed that dreams can give you glimpses of the past, and of the future.  They can show the will of the Force, and they can let the mind communicate over unfathomable distances.  As I told you in my last letter, I think you should take them seriously.”  Luke leaned forward.  “You said yours seem to be about the future?”

   “Yes.  No.  I don’t know.  It’s hard to tell.  All I know is that there’s something awful there, in the dream, surrounding me.  But I can’t see it.  It whispers to me, but I can’t understand it.  I see people hurt, people…dead.”

    “So far there’re no signs Rey is having these dreams, too?”

   “No.  I think she’d tell me if she did: she usually runs into my room when she has a nightmare.  She seems like her usual self.  Unlike me.”

   He nodded.  “Here’s what I think is happening.  You made contact with something very powerful that day on Dax, Etan.  The Dark side now knows you, and your…Force-signature, I guess you’d call it.  So it still reaches out after you, and from time to time it finds you. Your conscious mind is untrained and thus is probably not aware of it.  But your unconscious knows it’s there.  Hence the nightmares.”

   “Why?  I’m not a Jedi, or a Sith, or anything like that.  Why won’t it leave me in peace?”

   “Because you’re strong in the Light.  Because the Dark side, and those who wield it, do not want to share power.”

   Etan shivered slightly.  “The Knights of Ren.  Snoke.”

   “Yes.”

   Her hands curled and uncurled reflexively so quickly she swept a small glass bowl off the low table in front of her.  It shattered as it hit the tile floor.

   Etan quickly knelt down to pick up the pieces.  One of them gouged the palm of her hand.

   Luke grabbed her hands.  “Stop.  We’ll get it later.” 

   He went into the tiny kitchen and found a clean piece of toweling to made a compress.  He held it down firmly on the wound until it stopped bleeding.

   “See what I mean?”  Etan glanced up at him through a gaze blurred by tears.  “I’m a mess, and I can’t seem to do anything right these days.”

   Luke sat down on the floor next to her, both of their backs against the settee.

   “Stop being so hard on yourself,” he told her gently as he continued to hold her injured hand in his own.  “You aren’t trained for this kind of thing.  And that’s my fault, really.” 

   He sighed. 

   “I’ve been so worried about any Force-sensitives finding Rey before she can defend herself I didn’t think about what it would mean if they found _you_.”

   Etan made a soft sound, somewhere between a sob and a hiccup.  “To think I made it through a war with nothing like this happening,” she said softly.  “And then one day I’m in the wrong place at the wrong time…”

   “You spent most of the war in the Outer Rim Territories,” he reminded her. “You were only a kid, and your mother moved you both around often enough you just never raised anyone’s suspicions.  If you’d been on one of the core worlds, or active in the Rebellion…”

   Not for the first time, Luke shuddered a bit to think what might have happened if Vader or the Emperor had found her. 

   “I’m so tired, Luke.  So damn tired.  And now there’s probably another war starting,” she said softly, her warm breath tickling the edge of his ear.

   “There’s the Resistance,” he reminded her.  “They may yet be able to stop the First Order before it comes to that.” 

     Luke reflected on his own words for a moment.  Part of him had desperately wanted to join Leia, Lando, Wedge, and many of his old friends and colleagues in organizing opposition in the face of the Senate’s inaction. 

   But part of him felt that, as a Jedi master, his place was with his students at the temple.  The new Jedi order was young and fragile.  He no longer had the luxury of running off to fight just because he wanted to do so. 

   Luke placed his human hand against Etan’s shoulder.  “I know you’re exhausted.  But I need you to tell me the rest of what you’ve been seeing in your dreams.  There’s more to the story than what you’ve told me.”

   She shook her head mutely.

   “Etan.  Please.  It’s important.”  He tipped his head down a bit so they were eye-to-eye.  “Who else is there?  Are you there?  I mean, an older version of you?”

   She shook her head again.

   “Is Rey?”

   Etan sighed heavily.  “There’s a woman.  She has brown hair.  It might be Rey but it doesn’t _feel_ like my daughter.   When I see her all I can feel is darkness.  It’s like looking into a black hole.”

   “Does she carry a weapon?  This woman in your dreams?”

   Etan closed her eyes and leaned her head against his shoulder, as if she was suddenly afraid of looking at him.

   “A lightsaber.  Red, like the ones the Knights of Ren carried.”

   “And?  What does the woman in your dream do, Etan?” 

   When she didn’t immediately respond he nudged her gently.  “What happens in the dream?”

   When Etan spoke her words were so soft he could barely hear them.

   “She kills you.  She kills everyone.”    

   Luke closed his eyes.  He’d been right.

   Darkness was growing closer.

   And Ben was still gone.

_Ben…_

* * *

 

_“Ben!”_

_Luke looked across the dunes to see a young boy standing in the doorway of a house._

   He was on Tatooine.  Why was he on Tatooine?

_“Dad!  Hey, you’re back!”  The red-haired boy ran towards Luke, his blue eyes bright._

_Luke opened his arms and welcomed the embrace._

_“Hello, Ben,” he told the child._

   That wasn’t right.  This boy couldn’t have been more than ten.  Ben Solo was much older than that, and dark-haired.

_“You’re late,” the boy—the other Ben—told him, smiling up at him.  “Mom’s madder than a wet bantha.”_

_Luke smoothed the boy’s tunic over his slight shoulders affectionately.  The clothes were plain and simple, but the fabric was high quality: much nicer than anything his aunt and uncle had ever been able to afford._

_His mechanical hand—_ that detail, at least, was correct _—ran through the boy’s straight but unruly hair._

_“Ben,” Luke said again._

_“I’m gonna tell Owen and Beru you’re back!”  The boy said, darting off again toward the large house._

   “Ben,” Luke said softly to himself.

   Not Ben Solo.

   Ben Skywalker.

   Luke hadn’t begrudged Han and Leia choosing that name for their son.  But hadn’t there been a tiny voice in the back of his head saying that doing so wasn’t really fair?  As unworthy as it had been, hadn’t Luke been entitled to at least a bit of resentment that he would not be able to pass that name to his own son?

   Except that he’d never had any intention of fathering a son of his own.  He’d known that then, and he knew that now.

_He squinted a bit against the bright suns of the planet._

_Ben had reached, and was talking excitedly to, another boy, of perhaps eight._

   “Owen,” Luke said.

_And then in the doorway he saw Etan emerge, an older, smiling Etan, laughing at something the two boys said to her.  She had a small, fair-haired girl on one hip and was heavily pregnant._

_Of Rey there was no sign._

_“What is the loss of one child, when she can bear so many more?”  A voice, soft, sibilant, whispered in Luke’s mind.  “Your children, if you wish it so.”_

   Luke ignored the voice, but nodded to himself. 

   This is a dream, he thought.  And a lie.

 _“Not a lie,”_ the darkness whispered. _“I see your heart and your mind, Jedi.  I see what no one else does.  The bitterness, the resentment, the anger.  Why should others be happy, and not you?  Why should they have family, and not you?  Skywalker.  Give up one child—a child not even your own—and gain what you want.”_

   Luke focused his mind, and pushed away the vision.  It swirled away from him as if in a sand storm, and now he stood alone with the voice.

 _If you knew this woman,_ he told it, _you would see what a poor liar you are.  She would never be happy without her daughter.  Never.  She and I would both die before we let you take the child._

 _I have taken many children, Jedi,_ that Darkness rasped _.  You know this.  It is only a matter of time before I have them all.  I…_

   _Enough_.  In the vision Luke gathered up the Light and aimed it at the voice.  _Leave_ , he ordered.

   The Darkness hissed and spit, but had no choice but to retreat. 

   _This is not over, Jedi_ , it said before disappearing.

   _It is for now,_ Luke told it.

* * *

 

   He opened his eyes. 

   He was sitting on the floor in Etan’s apartment.  She had fallen asleep, her head still resting on his shoulder.  He didn’t think more than a few minutes had passed while he’d been having the vision.

   He gently shook her awake.  She blinked at him in confusion.

   “Wake up, Etan.  We have work to do before Rey gets home.”

   “Work?”  She mumbled sleepily.

   “The connection’s stronger than I had feared,” he explained.  “We need to make it harder for the Dark side to touch you.”

   “And how do we do that?”

   “I wish I could tell you that’s it’s going to be easy, but it’s not.  I wish I could say I can break the connection, but I can’t.  I’m going can teach you how to diminish your Force presence.”

   She was wide awake now.

   “So I’ll be able to, what, _hide_ myself?”    

   “I can teach you the basics now.  You’ll need to practice.  In theory, this make it much more difficult for Force sensitives— _any_ Force sensitives-- to find you.”

   “And Rey?”

   Luke shook his head.  “She’s too young to learn this technique.  It’s difficult even for adults to master.  But the better able to are to shield yourself, the better you will be able to shield her.”

   Etan, understanding, nodded. 

   “If they can’t find me, they can’t find her.”

   “Again, in theory.  But yes.”

   The young woman smiled grimly. 

   “If that’s the best chance I have, I’ll take it.  I’ll learn.”

   Luke smiled.

   “I know you will, Etan.  I know you will.”


	7. Fifteen Years Ago

Ch.7: Fifteen Years Ago

 

   Etan Darklighter woke up to screaming.

   She quickly rolled over and grabbed the blaster she had strapped to the underside of her mattress.

   The room was still dark.  The screaming was coming from the room next door.

   “Mommy!” 

   Etan was on her feet and rushing for the door before the next cry came.  She was careful to keep the blaster behind her back as she surveyed her daughter’s room.  Nothing was out of the ordinary.

   Rey was sitting up in bed.  The little Dac-style buns Etan always tied to stop the child’s fine hair from getting tangled were lopsided on the top of her head.

   She held out her little arms.

   “Mommy!”

   “Oh, sweetheart.”  Etan quickly set down the blaster and scooped up her child.  “What is it?  A bad dream?”

   “Uh huh.”  The child took a shuddering breath.  “It hurts, Mommy.”

   Etan frowned.  “What hurts, baby?”

   “Everything,” Rey whimpered, cuddling closer again her.

   “Do you want to tell me what you saw?”

   Rey shook her head.  “I didn’t see anything.  I just felt it.”

   “You didn’t see anything?  You’re sure?”

   “Uh huh.”

   Etan rested her chin on top of her daughter’s head, rocking her slightly back and forth.

   Skywalker had warned her Rey might start having nightmares, too. 

   But in the year since she’d last laid eyes on him that didn’t seem to have happened.

   Rey had the occasional nightmare, of course, as did all small children: about being lost, about being hungry.  But this sounded like it had been something different.

   Etan sighed.  Things had been going so well. 

   She’d been diligently practicing what Skywalker had taught her.  She’d always been a rather open person.  At first it had felt raw and wrong to pull herself inward as Skywalker has advised.  To diminish what he had called her Force-presence.

     But after a few months it had seemed to ease her own nightmares.  With her normal sleep patterns returned, she’d been better at work, and a better mom.  She’d even starting thinking about where she and Rey might want to go next.  SoroSuub had subsidiaries all over the galaxy, and Etan had already turned down one promotion.  Maybe she wouldn’t have to turn down the next one.   

   And now this.

   From the living room the comm chimed, softly but persistently.

   Etan kissed her child’s head.  “I have to go get the comm, baby.”

   “No,” Rey said, further entwining her arms around her mother.  “Stay here.”

   Etan laughed.  “Sweetie, come on, now.  You can go back to sleep—everything’s fine.”

   “No.”

   The older woman sighed and picked Rey up.  The little girl smiled, already half-asleep. 

   Etan hustled them both into the main room, where the comm’s chime had grown more urgent.

   “OK, OK, I’m here,” she announced as her grabbed it and flipped it on.  A small hologram appeared on the nearby datapad.

   She had to squint to make out the features of the caller.  “Meester?  Is that you?  It’s the middle of the night!  If you think I’m working on the company’s communications subsystems again at _this_ hour…”

   “Etan, listen.  You need to get out of there.  Right now.”  The small Sullustian man spoke rapidly in his native language.  Sullustians just didn’t have the jaw structure to speak Basic, but they could understand it just fine.

   “What?  Meester, explain.”

   “My drinking buddy Choto is staffing the transport desk at the port tonight.  Three bounty hunters came in about an hour ago.”

   Etan didn’t ask how Choto would have known they were bounty hunters.  No matter the species, no matter what they wore, they were always unmistakable.

   “Etan, the address they gave for transport was yours.”

   Her mouth went dry.

   “Are you sure?”

   “Choto never forgets an address.  He sent them the long way around the city but they’re going to find your place pretty quick.  I don’t know what you did to get a price on your head and I’m not going to ask. But you need to get that baby of yours and get off planet asap.”

   Etan didn’t allow herself time to be surprised.  “Understood.”  She quickly set Rey down and grabbed her coat.  She also retrieved her blaster and the holster for it she now kept hanging next to the front door.

   “Meester, do you know if the bounty has triggered any Republic-wide transport alerts on me yet?  Can I still get out if I can get to Gaza’s shuttle?”

   “You’re clear for now.  The bounty must not have been processed all the way through Coruscant ‘cause it’s not in our system yet.  And,” the small creature told her with a wink of one large eye, “it may not show up in there for a couple of weeks.”

   “Tell the company I’m not going to be in tomorrow,” she told him as she fished her emergency stack of Republic credits out of left boot before putting it on.  “Maybe not ever.  And Meester?”

   “Yeah?”

   “I owe you one.”

   “You do, kid.  You do.  But consider this one on me.”

* * *

 

  It only took a few hours for them to reach the Yavin system via hyperspace.  Never had Etan been more grateful for her mentor’s engineering skills than she was now: the gleaming Dac-built shuttle nearly flew itself. 

   All the better, because Etan’s hands were still shaking from the close-call they’d had on Sullust.

   She glanced over at where Rey was sound asleep in one of the bunks. 

   The child seemed to already have forgotten whatever woke her up screaming.  She was smiling slightly as she slept. 

   She hadn’t protested as she’d been hoisted through the emergency exit in the ceiling of their place and then toted halfway across the city in her mother’s arms. 

   Etan almost suspected Rey was looking at it all as some sort of adventure.  She wished she’d had time to grab a few of her daughter’s favorite toys before they’d run; she didn’t even have a change of clothes for either of them.  Rey’s linen sleep shirt and trousers weren’t suitable for the cold of space, and neither were her own.  Hopefully Skywalker would have something he could spare for them, maybe from one of the younger students…

   The shuttle dropped out of hyperspace and Etan cut the engine just in time to stop from ramming into a starcruiser.

   “What the kriffing hell!?”  She swore under her breath.

   “Unauthorized shuttle, identify yourself.  This has been declared restricted space.”  A voice cracked through the comm.

   Restricted space…? 

   Etan quickly punched up some data.  The Yavin System had never been restricted space.  What the sithspit was this guy talking about?  From where she was she couldn’t even see tiny Yavin 4 beyond the uninhabitable red gas giant of Yavin.

   An ache deep in her chest had begun to build during the flight.  She had thought it was the adrenaline but now she wasn’t so sure. 

   Etan pressed her fist against her breastbone, trying to ease it.  She could hear the blood rushing through her ears with each one of her heartbeats.

   “Unauthorized shuttle, identify yourself.  This has been declared restricted space.  Identify yourself or you will be fired upon.”

   That made her scramble for the mic. 

   “This is the civilian shuttle _Argos_ , out of Sullust.  Registration number TKP-4270.”  Etan was mortified that her voice, as well as her hands, was shaking a bit. 

   “Listen, I need to speak to Luke Skywalker.  I’m on my way to Yavin 4 to see him.  Got that?  Luke Skywalker.  Over.”

   The silence on the other end lasted so long that for a moment she thought her transmission hadn’t gone through.

   “Shuttle _Argos_ , use port side docking bay.  Over,” a voice answered at last.

   Etan drew in a shaky breath.  She glanced over her shoulder as she opened the throttle.

   Rey was still asleep.

* * *

 

   If this was a military exercise, no one seemed to be moving very fast, Etan observed as she carried her sleeping daughter off the shuttle.  The starcruiser’s docking bay was full of ships, and there were lots of pilots and officers standing around. 

   But there wasn’t the frantic scramble she expected to see on any flight deck.  Instead men and women stood around, conversing in low tones, their faces pale.  Most didn’t look at her with anything other than mild curiosity as she disembarked.

   Etan readjusted her daughter’s head against her shoulder.  Rey was five years old now, and heavy.  Etan realized with a start that in a few more months she probably wouldn’t be able to carry her daughter at all.

   An old man with a long, sad face approached her.  The ache inside of her increased.

   “I’m here to see Luke Skywalker,” Etan told him, annoyed that she had to keep repeating herself.  “I need to see him.”

   “He knows,” the old man told her, his voice like a deep rumble of thunder but as soft as spring rain.  “He sent me to bring you to him.”

   “Oh.” 

   Etan trundled along behind him as best she could.  The muscles in her arms and back were screaming at her but she held her daughter tight. 

   The hallways were filled with more solemn-faced military personnel.  The few that glanced at the old man quickly looked away.  Etan thought that was odd.

   “My name is Lor San Tekka,” he finally said as they walked.

   “Lor?”  She echoed.  That name was somehow familiar.  “Lor,” she repeated softly.

   “Oh,” she said again as something clicked for her.  “The baby toy.  I mean, the cube thing.  Skywalker brought it to us.” 

   Etan flashed on a memory of the two of them--Skywalker and her baby daughter--on the floor together in her apartment on Dac, playing with the Force-sensitive object.

   “He told me you had described it to him,” she explained, more for the sake of saying something than because she though it particularly relevant.

   “I did,” he said as he kept walking.

   Etan caught him by the sleeve and made them both pause.

   “Look, I’m sorry, but please tell me what’s going on.  Something’s…wrong, something’s really, really wrong, but no one’s telling me anything.”  Etan winced as the pain welled up again inside her.

   “I’m sorry,” the old man told her.  Etan was horrified to see tears welling up in his eyes.  Now they were closer she could see they were already red-rimmed, as if he had been crying quite recently.

   “Sorry for what?”  She asked him softly.

   He smiled enigmatically.  It was a heart-breaking smile. 

   “Sorry for all of it,” was all he said.  He resumed walking.

   Etan felt she had no choice but to follow him.

   At last they entered into what looked like the command room.  There was a long table down the center, and chairs, and a wide glass window that allowed one to survey the vastness of space beyond.

   Skywalker was standing there, in front of the glass, his customary black cloak folded neatly on a nearby chair.  A little astromech droid was hovering close to him, chirping softly but anxiously at him.

   “Is Rey all right?”  He said without turning to face them.  Etan supposed he could see their reflection in the glass.

   “I had to drag her halfway across the galaxy in the middle of the night.  But she seems to be fine.”  She glanced down at the child’s soft little face. 

   Her grip must have unconsciously tightened a bit as she spoke, because Rey let out a soft whimper.

   “Lor,” Skywalker said softly.

   The old man nodded. 

   “Let me take her, miss.”  He held out his arms to Etan.  “There’s a small bedroom, just through there, for the commanding officer to sleep if need be.”  He pointed to the other side of the room.  “You will be able to hear her if she cries.”

   Etan glanced at Skywalker, but nothing in his stance or silence told her what she should do.

   “Please,” Lor said again.

   With a slight nod Etan handed over Rey.  The expression on the old man’s face—joy, almost reverence—as he cradled her set Etan’s mind instantly at ease.

   As soon as Rey and Lor left Etan approached Skywalker.

   “There were bounty hunters, Skywalker.  On Sullust.  Some friends in the spaceport overheard where they were heading and warned me they were on their way.” 

     Etan swallowed hard, frowning as the jumbled events of the last few hours tried to sort themselves out in her mind.  “No, that’s not quite right: first Rey woke me up screaming; then I got to the comm, and we bolted.  Otherwise Rey and I…”

   “You are resourceful, Etan.  I’ve always know you were resourceful.” 

   Etan could see his face reflected in the glass.  His beard was full now, neatly-trimmed.  His black clothes were spotted with soot and ash.  He still hadn’t turned to face her.  His voice sounded as if it was coming from a great distance.

   Suddenly the pain was back, much sharper than before.  She struggled to catch her breath.

   “I’m sorry if I’m hurting you, Etan.  That is not my intention.”

   He at last turned to face her.  He didn’t look like the man she knew.  He looked…empty.

   “You’re doing this?”  She finally took a deep breath as the pain ebbed.

   He smiled slightly, wryly.  “I’m trying not to.  But as much as I’m shielding I’m afraid some of my pain is bleeding through.”

   Etan felt rather than saw Lor come to stand behind her.

   “The child is still asleep, Master Skywalker.”  He said.

   “Good.”

   “There’s a price on my head, Skywalker.  A big one, apparently,” Etan said quickly.  “I didn’t know where else to go.”

   Skywalker’s gloved right hand was stroking absently at his beard, as if he was deep in thought.

   “I’m afraid I cannot help you, Etan,” he said after a long moment.  “I wish I could.”

   Etan was too stunned for a moment to speak. 

   She’d seen Skywalker be a lot of things: kind, smart, firm, even at times a little annoying.  She’d never seen him defeated.

   _Defeated_.  The word echoed back to her from his own mind.  _Yes._

   “Stop that!”  She quickly slammed her Force-presence shut, as he had taught her to do, pulling it in until she could no longer feel him at all.

   “You’re getting good at that,” he admitted aloud.

   “Why can’t you help me?”  She demanded.  “You got me into this!  OK, not technically you, that was my father, I guess.  But Rey and I aren’t safe anymore, Skywalker!”

   “You knew this day might come.  ‘If they can’t find me, they can’t find her.’  That’s what you said to me.”

   “Not this soon!”  Etan’s eyes were starting to fill with tears: she blinked them away as fast as they appeared.  “She’s still a baby!”

   “They’ll know she’s come to you,” Lor said quietly to Skywalker.

   “I know.  We need to move quickly.”  Skywalker looked at her for just a moment.  “Stay here.  I need to speak with Commander Tau.”

   Skywalker left the room, the droid on his heels.

   Etan rubbed her face.  “This is a nightmare.  I’ve never seen him like this.”

   “No, nor have I,” the old man told her.

   “I can’t believe he’s not going to help us.”

   “My dear,” Lor said gently, “I promise you he _is_ going to help you.  But I’m afraid his solution is not one any of us are going to be happy with.”

   Etan glared at him, tired of such cryptic statements. 

   She stared out of the window.  By now enough time had passed that the gas giant had spun a bit on its axis, pulling the smaller planets in its orbit along with it.  She could now see Yavin 4, its green color in marked contrast to that of its mother planet.

   She could also see a gray streak in its atmosphere, as if something down on the planet was burning.  The pain in her chest built again as her shields began to slip.   She was growing too tired to maintain them.

   “Lor.  Tell me what happened.”

   The old man looked at her, this time letting a tear run down one papery cheek. 

   “It’s all gone, my child.”

   Etan knew what he meant without asking.  But ask she did.

   “The Temple?”

   “Yes.”

   “The school?”

   “Yes.  The students fought valiantly.  But they were overwhelmed.”

   “The Knights of Ren.”

   “Yes.”

   Etan laid her head against the cold glass.  “He’s lost everything, then.  Everything he’s worked so hard to build."

  “He and I were returning from exploring the ruins on Jedha’s third moon when it happened.  By the time we arrived it was all over.”

   Another memory niggled at the back of her mind.  She looked at him.  “Your wife?  Skywalker told me once, something about, your wife?  Is she…?”

   He shook his head.  “No.”  Another tear slipped down his face.

   Without thinking Etan reached out and grabbed his hand in her own.  “I’m so sorry.”

   “I know.  But I thank you.”

   “So much death and destruction.  For nothing,” Etan said quietly.  “No wonder he’s in so much pain.”

   “I’m afraid it’s worse even than you know, my child.”

   “Worse?  How can it be worse?”

   “Ben led them there.”  Skywalker said.  He had reentered the room without them hearing him do so. 

   “Ben?  Ben Solo?  Your padawan?”  Etan pictured the lanky, dark-haired boy she had once fed with tea and flatbreads in her own home. 

   She felt sick.

   “Not my padawan, not for a long time.  Snoke’s apprentice,” Skywalker said shortly.  He handed something to Lor as he spoke.  The older man secreted it inside his own heavy cloak.

   Skywalker stood in front of her.  He laid his hands on her shoulders.

   “I’m sorry, Etan.  I’m so very sorry.  But you know what you have to do.”

   “I can’t do it.  Skywalker, I can’t.  Don’t ask it of me.  Please.”

   When he didn’t answer her she was silent for a long moment.

   “I have to lead them away from her,” she said at last.  “Away from Rey.”

   “Yes.”

   “If they can’t find me, they can’t find her.”

   “Yes.”

   Etan didn’t try to stop her tears.  “It’s not fair.”

   “You’re right.  It’s not.  None of it is.”

   She wiped away her tears with her fist.  “How long?  For how long do I have to give her up?”

   “Until the time is right,” Skywalker told her.

   “Where will you take her?”

   Skywalker stepped away from her and nodded at Lor.

   “I will take the child,” the old man said.  “I know where she can be concealed.”

  “You’ll raise her?”  Etan asked hopefully.

   “No.  But I will remain close by.”  He looked at the Jedi Master.  “Until the time is right.”

   “She’s going to be all alone.”  Etan looked from one man to the other, pleadingly.  Neither would meet her eyes.

   Skywalker had turned his back to her, gazing out the window again.  At the smoking ruins of his dreams, she supposed.

   “If you do not do this, you will still lose your daughter,” Lor said to her.  “Snoke will have her hunted down and killed, as he has the other padawans.  Or he will take her for his own ends.  Either way she will be lost to you.”

   Etan pressed her hands against her eyes, remembering the brown-haired woman from her nightmares.  The one who had turned her red lightsaber against Luke Skywalker himself.

   “You know,” she said after a long moment, “ever since they day we met, Skywalker, and you told me about my father, I have hated him.”

   Skywalker glanced at her sharply. 

   “You heard me,” she told him.  “I have _hated_ him.   For leaving my mother, for leaving me, alone, to cope with,” she held out her arms, “all of _this_.  ‘What kind of a man—what kind of a parent,’ I kept asking myself, ‘abandons their child?  How weak!  How pathetic!  Why couldn’t he be strong enough to stay with her, and with me?’”

   The Jedi turned away from her again.

   “I’ve been thinking that for _years_.  And it’s only now that I understand.  He saved my life.  He was _strong_.  He was _so much stronger_ than I am.  And now I’m about to do exactly the thing to my own child that he did to me.  Exactly the same thing.  And it is breaking my heart.” 

   Lor shook his head.  “Someday, when she knows the truth, your daughter will forgive you.  Just as you’ve learned to forgive your father.”

   “I don’t think so,” she said.  “I really don’t.  And I won’t blame her a bit.” 

* * *

 

 

   “Rey, honey?  Wake up.  Wake up, sweetheart.”

   “Mommy?”  Rey blinked up sleepily.  She wasn’t in her bed at home, and she wasn’t in her bunk on the shuttle.  To her five-year-old mind this was both upsetting and confusing.

   But her Mommy was smiling down at her, her blue eyes brighter than Rey thought she’d ever seen them.

   “Mommy, what’s wrong?”

   “Nothing’s wrong, darling.”  Mommy quickly sat her up and smoothed her brown hair.  All her little buns were probably squashed from sleep.  Rey hoped her Mommy was going to re-do them before school.

   To Rey’s surprise her Mommy wrapped a blanket around her and handed her to a tall, white-haired man standing nearby.

   “Rey, listen to me,” her Mommy told her, smoothing her hands over Rey’s face.  “I need to go with this man.  He’s going to take you in the shuttle.  You can trust him—he’s family. You can go back to sleep on the way.”

   “Where are we going?”  Rey asked, yawning loudly.  She really didn’t like being woken up again so soon. She’d already had enough adventure for one night.  Adventures, Rey was starting to think, were overrated.

   She blinked up at the man now holding her.  He had sad eyes.  Like Mommy’s.

   “Where are you going to be, Mommy?” She asked.  “When will you come?”

   “I’ll be there soon, sweetheart, I promise.  Trust him.  Ok?”

   Rey was very sleepy, and very confused.  “He’s family?”

   “Yes, Rey.  Family.”  Mommy picked up the corner of the blanket and tucked it under Rey’s chin.  “You be a brave, good girl for me now, and I’ll see you real soon.”

   Rey frowned.  But she trusted her Mommy. 

   “OK,” she said reluctantly.

   Her Mommy gave her a quick kiss on the forehead, and on the back of each of her hands.  Before Rey could say anything she had disappeared through a pair of sliding doors.

   Rey wanted to cry out for her Mommy, but she also wanted to be brave like her Mommy said.

   “It’s all right, young one,” the old man told her.  “All will be well.”

   _Family_ , Mommy had said.

   Rey wasn’t entirely sure what that word meant.  But she liked the warm feeling this man’s voice gave her in her tummy.  She felt safe in his arms. 

    And her Mommy wouldn’t lie to her.

   She snuggled a bit, looking forward to being back in her cozy bunk on the shuttle.  Maybe she’d see Mommy again before they even got where they were going.

* * *

 

   Etan had the distinct sensation her head had separated from her body. She knew she was moving forward, striding across the landing bay with some Republic commander next to her, but she couldn’t feel anything.  She had gone numb.

   _If they can’t find me, they can’t find her,_ she kept chanting in the back of her mind.  _If they can’t find me, they can’t find her.  If…_

   “This is all highly unorthodox.  But if Master Skywalker gives his approval…”

   She had a feeling he was nattering on about ships.  She quickly interrupted him.

   “Look, it doesn’t matter—B-wing, X-wing, shuttle, whatever you can spare.  If it’s got wings I can fly it.  As soon as I get where I’m going I’ll get word to you and you can come and pick it up.”

   The officer—a man about Skywalker’s age—glanced over at her, in her civilian clothing, with nothing in her hands and only a blaster strapped to her hip.  “But where are you going?”

   Etan breathed shallowly, focused on keeping her connection to the Force closed, focused on keeping from screaming.

   “I don’t know.”

   _If they can’t find me, they can’t find her.  If they can’t find me, they can’t find her.  If…_

* * *

 

    Luke Skywalker watched from the command room as a B-wing departed from the dock.  It quickly separated itself from the rest of the Republic fleet and winked out of existence a second later as it made the jump to hyperspace, heading for an unknown destination. 

   Luke allowed Etan the dignity of not trying to touch her mind as she departed.  Not even to say goodbye.

   Etan’s gleaming silver shuttle had done the same thing a few moments earlier, Lor and the child departing for a destination only the old man knew.

   The only thing Luke knew now was that the future was uncertain.

   He knelt down next to R2, who whistled at him inquiringly.

   “There’s one last thing I need you to do for me,” he told the droid.  He gently inserted the small data chip.  In a moment R2’s internal system buzzed, acknowledging the data had been added to his core memory.

   The droid chirped inquiringly. 

   “Yes, R2, I’m going away.  And before you ask, no, you can’t come with me.”

   R2 whistled again, sadly.

   “Because it’s complicated, my old friend.”  Luke gently touched the silver and blue metal carapace that served as the droid’s head.  “I’m doing what I must do to keep everyone who remains safe.” 

   He stood.

   Rolling slightly back and forth on his castors, R2 indicated his unhappiness.

   “You don’t need to understand to do what I ask of you,” Luke told the droid.

   Outside Luke could see a small cruiser suddenly snap into existence, followed by several more.

   He didn’t need to reach out to know it was Leia.  He could feel her fear and apprehension from where he was.  Force only knew what she had been told about the attack. 

   Luke could also tell Han wasn’t aboard with her.

   Luke nodded to himself. 

   “Stay here while I speak with Leia, R2,” he told the droid as he pulled his black cloak back on.  “I’ll see you soon.”

   As Luke left the command room he could sense R2 staring after him, his electric eye dimming ever so slightly as the doors slid shut between them.

  

* * *

_The Present.  Ach-To._

 

   “Is she still alive?  My mother?”  Rey had asked him softly.  He could tell from the girl’s wide eyes she was still struggling to process all he had told her.

   “I don’t know,” Luke had admitted.  “I have not attempted to use the Force to reach out to her or to anyone else since I came here.  If I had it would have been like lighting a beacon.  It would have led the First Order straight to us both.  Ben knows my Force-signature only too well.”

   “Kylo Ren,” Rey had told him, her anger and revulsion as she spoke the name radiating back at Skywalker like a flash-fire.  “Not Ben.”

   Luke had allowed the edges of his mouth to quirk up ever so slightly.  “Kylo Ren?”  He had echoed.  “Is that what he’s calling himself these days?”

   Rey had nodded.

   Skywalker had laughed mirthlessly.  It was only a very small laugh.  Even to his own ears it sounded rusty.  “He’s definitely inherited my father’s flair for the dramatic, then.”

   “He’s a murderer.  He killed Han.”

   “I know,” Luke said solemnly.  “I felt it happen.” 

   Alone on Ach-To, Luke had sensed in the Force Ben’s emotional agony and, seconds later, Leia’s.  It had brought him to his knees. 

   There was only one event Luke could think of that could cause them both that amount of pain.  Luke had absorbed that pain, feeling it with them even though he was millions of miles away. 

   It was the Jedi way.

  Luke knew he wasn’t supposed to mourn.  Han hadn’t been a believer, but he was now as much a part of the Force as Kenobi was. 

   Life was finite.  The Force was infinite.  That was something to be grateful for.

   Still, Luke had not yet allowed his conscious mind to dwell on Han’s death.  He couldn’t.   Not yet.

   “We have to stop Ren,” Rey had said, grim resolve written across her young face.  “You have to help me stop him.”  A beat of silence had passed.  Then another.

   “You’ll train me?”  She had asked.

   Luke had not hesitated. 

   “I will.  I made a promise to do so years ago.  You will be,” he had vowed, “my last student.  The last Jedi I ever train.  The last Jedi.”

   Now, laying on his sleeping mat staring up the ceiling of the shelter over his head, Luke contemplated if this was the truth.  Not about Rey being his last student: he knew he really was getting too old for this sort of thing.

   No, he wondered if Rey would indeed be the last of their kind. 

   Looking into the Force he could see her, sometime in the future, standing alone, Anakin Skywalker’s lightsaber in her steady grip.

   But at the same time he could also see others—not many, but others—standing with her, besides her. 

   Even further ahead he thought he could glimpse Rey instructing others in the ancient combat stances, stances she herself had not yet learned.

 _Always in motion is the future,_ Yoda had told him long ago _._

   “Always in motion, indeed,” Luke said softly to himself.   

 _Focus your mind,_ Obi-Wan had told him.  _Let go._

   As his tired body began to relax, Skywalker focused on his breathing.  From the small room next door to his own he could hear Rey snoring softly from within the roll of blankets he has given her.

   Another vision, this one unbidden but much sharper, came into his mind.

_He and Rey, struggling across a metal landing pad.  The air around them was thick with heat and heavy with ash.  It came down on them like snow, sticking to their sweaty clothing, their hair, their eyelashes._

_Luke was injured.  Badly, if he had to guess from the heaviness on his left side and the way Rey was struggling to support part of his weight as well as her own.  He was struggling to breath in a way he knew had nothing to do with the ash raining down on them.  Each wheezing, labored breath he took was uncannily reminiscent of the sound of Vader’s respirator._

_“Just hang on, Master,” Rey yelled to him over the roaring all around them.  “I’ll get us out of here.”_

_Their transport was gone, Luke knew: stolen, destroyed, he wasn’t sure.  The star base around them was tearing itself apart._

_But they continued to struggle forward, driven by the steely determination Rey was radiating into the Force.  Luke was holding on to that bright light, but every moment it was getting harder to keep his eyes open._

_The metal beneath their feet continued to shake.  The sky was dark and filled with sparks and swirling ash.  Luke could just make out jagged, sawtooth mountains, like broken teeth in a gaping mouth, on either side of them._

_“Rey,” he managed to say._

_“I’ll get us out of here,” she vowed, refusing to look at him.  Her eyes were searching the area frantically, trying to assess their options for escape._

_There were none._

_Rey, he said again through the Force._

_She ignored him._

_Then, overhead, they heard a different kind of roar.  That of an engine.  It was barely audible over the chaos around them, but it was there._

_A split second later the distinctive banded engine lights of the Falcon appeared.  As the ship rotated to hover over the landing pad Luke thought he caught a glimpse of two people in the cockpit._

_The Falcon hovered a few feet off the ground, its engines struggling and starting to whine as the air intakes filled with ash.  A few meters ahead of them the ramp dropped down._

_“We have to move!”  The woman who ran down it told them, yelling to make herself heard.  “Dameron’s holding her steady but the whole planet’s ripping itself apart!”_

_“He’s hurt!” Rey yelled back at the newcomer through gritted teeth.  “I need help!”_

_With a nod the woman quickly took Luke’s right arm and slung it over her own shoulder, so Rey was no longer supporting his weight by herself.  Between the two of them they were able to maneuver his increasingly limp body to the ramp._

_Luke mustered the last of his waning strength to glance over his shoulder at the newcomer.  Her hair was quickly acquiring its own coating of ash.  He could still see that it was no longer the vivid shade of auburn it had been in her youth, but a soft, mellow red.  Lines around bright blue eyes he hadn’t seen in sixteen years crinkled when she smiled down at him._

_“Hello, Skywalker,” she told him._

   In his sleep on Ach-To, Luke smiled.

   Even if he hadn’t felt it deep inside, resonating like a gentle wave that swirled and dipped deep inside of him, he still would have recognized her anywhere.

 

The End

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The saga may continue in drips and drabs in a new story, Second Life. Mainly because I’d like to fast-forward to look at what happens to our heroes after the defeat of the First Order. I’m think I’m going to convert this to a ‘verse, if you’d like to follow along. Maybe I’ll even take prompts. Thanks for reading!


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